


If Love Be Blind

by Preeshera



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Blind Character, CW: loss of vision, Depression, F/M, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, The Author Regrets Everything, and she doesn't know what she's doing, cw: blood, just thought you should know, like - I am already sorry about the amount of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-03-05 09:10:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 31,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13384659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preeshera/pseuds/Preeshera
Summary: Marinette's life is slipping through her fingertips, all the dreams and plans she made for herself shattered, as she falls deeper and deeper into misery.What happened to Ladybug's famous luck?And could there be a way to bring it back?... a certainblack cat, perhaps?Only time will tell.(It was his hand that turned her world to ashes, but he must never know)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Heya, this is my first bigger fanfiction that I am publishing here on AO3, so please, any feedback is much appreciated :)
> 
> I owe my life, sanity, and lot of chocolate to my lovely beta Bell, go shower them with love, they deserve it -> http://bellsrandomness.tumblr.com/ <-
> 
> Oh, and a fair warning, this is fairly angsty - if you are worried it might be disquieting to you, or trigger you, and would like to know more about what exactly there is (or will be in the future) before you read, feel free to shoot me an ask!
> 
> Enjoy!

“You realize I am a doctor too, right?!” the psychologist exclaimed, flushed with anger, as he fought a losing battle to maintain his composure.

“Whatever you say, Marcus,” scoffed a man in lab coat and stormed out of the office. The doctor closed his office door harshly to hide his embarrassment.

He marched back to his desk and sat down forcefully, knocking over his favorite picture frame and breaking it into pieces. Merde. Now this. He swept the shards off his work notepad, muttering angrily.

“Not a real doctor? NOT A REAL DOCTOR? That arrogant ass!”

_They underestimate you_ _, don’t they?_

What? Had someone entered his office? He looked around but the door was still firmly shut.

_They ridicule you, laugh at you._

He could feel his anger bubbling up again.

_No more, I say! My name is Hawkmoth, and I can give you the power to take revenge. All I ask in return is two little trinkets…_

_What do you think of my offer – Dr. Mind Control?_

_***_

A regular cloudy Parisian afternoon found the Collège Françoise Dupont as it usually was – busy and bustling with students.

“Come on, Marinette! We’ll be late!” Alya hollered, already halfway down the corridor from the homeroom class as Marinette was trying her best to catch up.

“But Alya, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, I didn’t know you were so passionate about the environment…” Marinette smiled at her friend sheepishly, once she finally caught her.

Alya was clearly excited, what with her near jog and all the hand waving, but Marinette didn’t really understand. Sure, the big shipment of chemicals being delivered through Parisian streets _was_ a big deal – there was a proper protest organized and everything – but Mayor Bourgeoise assured everyone that the security was of utmost priority. _Besides_ , Marinette mused as she ran to keep up with her excited best friend, _this just didn’t seem to be the kind of topic that would get Alya this heated up about._

“Of course I am passionate!” Alya declared resolutely. “Why – wouldn’t the protest be a perfect opportunity for Ladybug and Chat Noir to make an appearance?”

 _Aha! Voila, there it was. The true motive!_ Marinette sighed, but then smiled indulgently at her friend.

“Okay, okay. I mean, what are best friends for, right?”

Alya grinned cheekily and hooked her elbows with Marinette.

“Right you are Mari!”

 

The girls made it just in time to see the procession of several large container trucks accompanied by a queue of police cars. The gathering of protestors along the main street was a bit loud, but Marinette noted gratefully that it looked peaceful, couple of rather rude placards aside, and didn’t think anyone looked angry enough to attract Hawkmoth’s attention.

She smiled at Alya, who was snapping pictures left and right and clearly in her element. Hopefully her friend won’t be too disappointed if Ladybug didn’t show…

A loud screeching sound tore Marinette out of her reverie. She turned around with growing dread.

_Of-fucking_ _-course. She just had to jinx it._

A man hovered above the line of trucks and police cars, flying in a throne-like office chair, dressed in an outfit that looked like a real-life optical illusion, and cackling manically.

Marinette sighed and stole a quick glance to Alya. Luckily, her friend was preoccupied by the commotion. She ducked into the nearest alley and dove behind a dumpster after a quick glance around the area. She opened her purse and hissed: “Tikki, we’ve got a problem!”

The tiny red kwami looked up at her with worried blue eyes.

“What is it Marinette? What’s wrong?”

“Akuma, Tikki. Quick, spots on!”

Her transformation flowed over her in a stream of pink light and Marinette let it take over, enjoying the pleasant rush that came with Tikki’s presence surrounding her.

Ladybug appeared from behind the dumpster fully suited and ran back towards the street, quickly dialing Chat’s number and leaving him a message to come as fast as he could.

The akuma was wreaking havoc, though Marinette couldn’t figure out exactly _how_ at first. The formerly peaceful protest had turned into a full-blown riot in the short while she took to transform. Marinette just couldn’t understand it. It was only once she noticed the unnatural, blood red eyes on one of the protester’s faces that it hit her – they were all being controlled!

“Well, well, if it isn’t Paris’ favorite superheroine!” The akuma screeched as he turned his attention to her. She quickly shot her yo-yo at a nearby aerial and pulled herself up on a rooftop to get away from the frenzied crowd and behind a cooling unit on the rooftop to pull out the communicator screen of her yo-yo. Chat still wasn’t picking up.

“Where are you, Chaton?” Marinette whispered to herself.

“The famous Ladybug, hiding, while the citizens of Paris are in danger? I sense some confidence issues! Tut-tut. A therapy session or two, and you’ll be right as rain!” the akuma announced as he rounded the rooftop and came face to face with Marinette.

Ugh, the suit was painful to look at. Marinette had to avert her eyes – optical illusions always gave her a headache.

 “I am Dr. Mind Control, give up your Miraculous Ladybug and no one will get hurt!”

Marinette groaned. Not this spiel again. She pushed down her uneasiness and glared at the akuma. The blood red irises that met her were extra freakish, but not as freakish as the book in his hands – a therapy notepad, but pitch black with a single glowing red eye on it.

That’s it! That must be where the butterfly is hiding.

“Give up your miraculous, Ladybug, or Paris will suffer!”

“I am afraid that’s _impawsible_ ,” came a cheeky reply. The akuma spun on his chair to glare at Mari’s very own smirking partner.

“Look what the cat dragged in,” Dr. Mind Control sneered, but Chat Noir’s grin didn’t waver.

“Need a helping paw, my Lady?”

“Chaton,” Marinette groaned, but she was glad to see her partner there. Fighting akumas on her own always made her a bit uneasy. “Stay focused! The akuma is in his notepad, we need to get to it – stat!”

“Last chance, Ladybug!” The akuma threatened, obviously not happy about being ignored.

Marinette hopped up onto the air conditioning unit she previously hid behind and threw her yo-yo at the akuma’s chair. Quickly pulling herself in, she tried to knock the notepad out of his hands, but he was expecting her.

“My Lady, no!” Chat screamed as the book glowed red, ready to pull Ladybug under the akuma’s control.

She dodged.

Plummeting to the ground, she barely managed to use her yoyo and veer quickly in opposite direction in time. By the skin of her neck the vibrating beam of the akuma’s power missed her and exploded against the building behind her.

Thank kwamis for all Ladybug’s luck.

She rolled onto a different rooftop and barely got to her feet before the akuma was shooting at her again. Dodging and swerving from rooftop to rooftop Mari Ladybug completely lost sight of her partner. Only when she dodged another one of the too-close-for-comfort attacks did she realize her companion was nowhere to be seen.

“Chat, a little help?” She cast her eyes wildly all around for the black of his suit. At last she spotted him on the street underneath. Only then did Marinette realize her partner had his hands more than full. While she was dancing around dodging Dr. Mind Control’s attacks, he had to deal with the raging crowd below. Ladybug’s stomach dropped at the sight of the mass of civilians bashing the large canisters full of chemicals that were towed on the trucks below her with whatever they could find.

Merde, merde, merde, MERDE!

“I’ve got my claws full, LB!” Chat yelped as Marinette just barely dodged another black beam. This wouldn’t do.

“Lucky Charm!” She threw her yo-yo up in the air, and air crackled with power.

A soft, silky scarf landed in her out-stretched hand. What the…?

She was just about to look around for clues when a resounding clamor from below drew her attention. Chat Noir was getting overwhelmed while the civilians were getting close to damaging the cistern. She had to get down there, but the akuma with his aerial advantage was proving way too tricky. Screw it, she really needed some time to figure out her Lucky charm!

Mari could hear sirens – police, or the fire service, or hopefully both, but they were too far away to help yet. She growled in frustration as she dove in between buildings and landed on the pavement next to Chat, knocking the mind-controlled civilians to the ground.

“Thanks for the assist, Bugaboo, things were getting a bit hairy down here.” Chat grinned.

“What did I tell you about calling me Bugaboo, you alley cat?”

“Meowch, my Lady, you wound me!” Chat exclaimed theatrically, throwing his clawed hands over his heart before waving them around again, laughing at his own antics.

The bubbling laugh transformed midway out of Marinette’s mouth into a gurgled gasp. You see, the akuma did not take kindly to being ignored, and he used their distraction to his advantage. In the split-second Mari wasn’t on high alert, a beam of black light shot right by her and hit Chat square in his chest.

The smile melted off his face as his eyes turned crimson.

“Chat, NO!” Marinette screamed, but to no avail. Her friend wasn’t there anymore.

“Now, now, Ladybug. Where were we? It’s rude to run out on your doctor!”

Chat hunched menacingly, and Mari took an instinctive step back. And as if all this wasn’t enough, the people she had knocked down were starting to stir and get back up on their feet. She shot out her yo-yo and quickly pulled herself up on one of the trucks. She needed to get to higher ground, fast.

With dread, Marinette realized Chat’s claws were doing a right number on the metallic containers beside her, and while she dodged away unscathed, the truck had started to sprout leaks. The pressure in the large container caused the chemical inside to shoot out forcefully through every small opening. Dr. Mind Control laughed manically as air filled with screams of civilians hurt by the leaking chemicals. The few remaining outside akuma’s control were trying to help, but it just wasn’t enough. Ladybug looked around frantically, trying to find something to aid her. The sound of sirens was getting closer, and she hoped against hope that the sorely needed help would arrive with it.

Her earing gave a warning beep and she looked down at the silk scarf, still clutched uselessly in her hand. She had to think of something!

“Get her, Chat Noir!” the akuma commanded, but Ladybug, distracted by looking around for clues, reacted too slow. The familiar arms of her partner, now harsh and unforgiving, circled her. In one swift move Chat brought her down to the ground with a heavy slam. One of his clawed hands circled her neck while the other posed to strike.

“Unmask her.” The akuma ordered coldly.

The black aura of cataclysm surrounded Chat’s hand and Marinette yelped, casting her gaze up helplessly to catch his unseeing blood red eyes. _Please. Look at me. Snap out of it._ She struggled underneath him but he was too strong.

“Chat, stop it! Chaton, please! It’s me, it’s your Lady!” she begged, tears welling in her eyes against her will, as she writhed against his crushing grip.

However, her Chat was not there. The last thing she saw was a streak of black on red as pain like lightning exploded in her head. His claws came down on her face, and a burning, horrible sensation spread from her eyelids where his cataclysm first made contact.

“Get away from her you monster!” a familiar voice screamed, and with a heavy wet whoosh Chat’s weight was lifted off her. She struggled to pry her eye open. Finally, her eyelids lifted heavily. Everything was blurry and hurting, her ears were ringing, and she was dripping wet for some reason. The sirens. It must be the firefighters. Of course, Marinette thought hazily, they brought out the power hose.

“Ladybug, can you hear me? Ladybug?” Alya, sweet, beautiful Alya was clutching her by the shoulders. “Ladybug, are you – are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Her vision swam, fluttery and unclear, her world a mass of swirling black spots and pounding excruciating pain. She couldn’t answer.

“Your suit…!” Alya whispered, voice quiet and horrified like Mari had never heard it before – and when her gaze dropped to her own trembling hands she could see her bare fingertips as the ladybug suit slowly crumbled. Tikki was losing her hold on the transformation.

“Please, please hold out. I will be back.” She tried to sound brave but her voice shook.

She had to run. Diving into the nearest alley she left the sounds of struggle behind, as the fire department waged a losing battle on an akuma and a corrupted superhero. They needed Ladybug, but she couldn’t help them. Crying, she fled.

Her suit crumbled of her feet and legs as she ran. She ran as fast as she could, ignoring the growing black spots in her sight, ignoring the pain, she ran to the only place she knew she could get help. Master Fu. Marinette could feel the shreds of the suit falling off her shoulders. Her time was almost up. The familiar weight of her mask disappeared just as she came up to the door of Master Fu’s shop. She saw a bright red dot drop lifelessly into her outstretched palm. She clutched her kwami to her chest as she banged on the door, streams of hot tears running down her face.  Her whole world narrowed down to a soft fluttery pulse in her palm. Her kwami, her companion, her Tikki.

“Marinette?” The look of surprise on Master Fu’s old face was lost on the girl. His eyes ran up and down her shaking frame and widened; she looked a sight – dripping wet, crying and bloody, with shreds of spotted armor still falling down around her. “Oh child, come in.”

 **“Master I can’t-”** Marinette sobbed. **“– I can’t see…”**

 

 

\----

_TBC_

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Marinette has to be brave maybe despite the circumstances and some harsh news are delivered... ~~but on the plus side there's marichat and puns? I tried T^T~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to my amazing beta Bell (@bellsrandomness.tumblr.com)  
> and to every single one of you who commented, bookmarked, and left kudos :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy ~~and I'm sorry~~

 

 

_**“Master I can’t.” Marinette sobbed. “I can’t see…”** _

 

 

\----

 

Marinette’s hands trembled around the teacup as a faintly spoken chant came in from the next room over. She didn’t know how long it has been since she came crashing into the shop. She didn’t know if Tikki was okay. Or Chat. Or Alya. Or Paris.

The only thing she could focus on was that she _couldn’t see_.

Her phone had buzzed a while ago. Mari had moved to pick it up out of habit and check who was calling but then it hit her – she couldn’t see the caller ID. She couldn’t see anything. She was completely blind.

She’d been sobbing ever since she had come inside. The salty tears hurt as they spilled from her ruined eyes, but she couldn’t stop them if she tried.

“Marinette?” Master Fu’s voice carried towards her, and she turned his direction instinctively.

“Is-is Tikki going to be okay?” she hiccupped as she tried to wipe her tears, but touching her eyes hurt so badly a fresh stream erupted from them, and horrified, Marinette realized she could taste blood on her tongue. Ever the master of compartmentalization she pushed all the thoughts of blood aside and pushed on.

“Did you-er-could you help her?”

“Yes, Marinette, Tikki is going to be fine – she is just eating now. Once she’s finished, her energy should be back up. My healing tonic really did work wonders, I must say, but you… What is it child?”

He must have noticed her expression, but Mari gulped down her tears and pushed her chin up. “Paris needs me, and I failed. What kind of Ladybug does that?” Her lips quivered, but she tried not to cry again.

”That’s not true Marinette; you were incredibly brave! I am so proud of you.“ A squeaky voice came flying closer to her and suddenly she could feel softness on her cheek.

“Tikki,” Mari sighed, “you’re alive!”

”Of course, silly!“ Tikki giggled.Then suddenly the softness was gone and a small gasp escape the kwami, making Marinette’s blood run cold.

“What is it? Tikki?!”

“Marinette, your eyes! You’re hurt! Oh no, this is terrible!”

_You think?_ Mari thought bitterly, but said nothing. “Tikki, there’s no time to worry about me. Can you transform? We have to go back and finish the akuma. Paris needs us!”

Marinette couldn’t see Master Fu’s worried look, nor Tikki’s determined nod.

“Let’s not keep them waiting.“ The tiny kwami sounded so resolute Marinette couldn’t help but feel a little bit hopeful.

“Tikki, spots on!”

She felt the miraculous power settle around her, and as she opened her eyes, she almost whooped with joy – her sight has returned!

Mari gave the old Master a respectful nod and tore out of the shop without a word. She grabbed her yo-yo and quickly checked the Ladyblog for updates – Alya, at least, must have still been okay for the update livestream was online. Marinette sighed with relief.

“Citizens of Paris, oh fuck” Alya spoke from the recording on the small screen, stopping short to dodge a piece of flying debris before she plowed on, “stay inside and find shelter! Steer clear of Avenue Paul Doumer and Trocadero. I repeat, do not go towards Trocadero. There is a large akuma attack and-”

The feed cut off, but at least now Mari knew where she needed to go. She couldn’t help the elation she felt at being Ladybug again, moving freely from rooftop to rooftop. But the good feeling left her in an instant when she saw the destruction all around her. She realized the akuma must have ordered its mind-controlled minions on a rampage through the streets. There were upturned cars, broken store windows, and rubble everywhere. When she finally made it back to the small square where the attack first started, she gasped.

Screaming. People running around frantically. Small fires starting up, with no one to put them down. The police and fire department were struggling to keep Chat Noir at bay, succeeding for the moment, but just barely. Realization dawned on Marinette with growing dread – Chat still hadn’t de-transformed! Which must mean the akuma’s influence was somehow powering him. He roared and trashed in the middle of the square, like rabid feral monster, and even as Ladybug, she shook with dread.

Meanwhile the few remaining civilians bolstered together under Principal Damocles, for some strange reason, were using all they could to distract Dr. Mind Control.

“Ladybug!”

“Look, it’s Ladybug!”

“She’s okay!”

“She made it”

“We’re saved!”

Marinette wanted to scream. _No, they weren’t saved! What could she do to help them, when she failed so badly already?!_

“Ladybug, I am so happy you‘reokay!” Alya was right there beside her when she landed down on the broken tile pavement.

“Yes, I…” she could feel tears prickling the corners of her eyes again, but her friend gave her the sunniest smile and said “Ladybug, I trust you. You can do it. We’ll distract them both for you as much as we can.”

Mr. Damocles nodded, and as Mari looked around she saw more and more hurt and sooty people, uniformed and not, giving her reassuring looks and nods.

She could do this. She had to. The city of Paris believed in her.

The city of Paris needed her.

“Lucky Charm!”

It went suspiciously smoothly from then on. Effortless. It almost felt natural to use the red-and-black spotted Velcro strip, to tie it around her yo-yo and drag the akuma to the ground. It was all too easy to swiftly grab the doctor’s notepad and tear it to pieces. Perfectly ordinary to just purify the akuma.

However, when she threw the Velcro in the air and shouted, “Miraculous Ladybug!” she knew in an instant that something was wrong.

The usually powerful magic only sparked and sputtered, barely de-transforming the akuma and his victims, fixing a mere fraction of damage and injuries before fizzling out into nothing.

Her earrings beeped once, then twice, way too fast, and she was running before she could meet Chat Noir’s confused green gaze. Alya yelled after her, but she had already gone.

Ladybug came into Master Fu’s shop through a window this time, but it was Marinette that passed out, broken, on his shop’s hardwood floor…

 

Next time Marinette came to, everything was dark. She startled violently. Her head felt as if it were filled with cotton, her arms and legs were heavy, and something was pulling on her left arm uncomfortably. As she trashed around warm hands came up on her shoulders, and she startled into stillness.

“Shh, Marinette, it’s okay. Calm down. You are in the hospital. You are safe.”

It was her father’s voice. Once again – beaten, sore, and terrified – Marinette started to weep.

Wet, breathless sobs wrecked her small frame as she pawed at the bandages wrapped over her eyes. Tom and Sabine exchanged worried looks. Their baby girl looked so small, so terribly frail in that big hospital bed, and they were both lost.

“Hush love, shhh, it will be okay, we’re here with you,” Sabine whispered to her daughter, fingers combing through the matted black hair coming out from above the tight bandages. Slowly, Sabine moved her hands down, entwining fingers with her daughter’s and bringing their hands down into Marinette’s lap.

“What happened Mama?” Marinette finally asked, though she dreaded the answer.

“You got hurt in the akuma attack, honey. You had a concussion, they think, and you wandered around for a while before someone found you and brought you in here.”

Marinette turned to the sound of her father’s voice and asked, feebly:

“Why can’t I see, Papa, what’s wrong with me?”

“Love –” Tom started, but Sabine stopped him with a look.

“Your eyes got hurt by the chemical that got released out of those horrible container trucks,” Sabine told her daughter gently, “they’ll need some time to heal. That’s what the bandages are for, love.”

Tom pursed her lips, the doctors’ words of _scarring_ and _likely permanent damage_ still fresh on his mind, but he understood. Marinette was frightened. It wouldn’t do to scare her any further. Although he wasn’t sure if giving their daughter false hope was the best idea…

 

“Marinette! Oh girl, you gave us all such a fright!” Alya’s voice came from the door, a booming delivery from the misery that was her uncomfortably silent hospital room. Mari had insisted that her parents go back to the bakery, they already missed too many days for her, and she didn’t want to ruin her family’s business on top of everything else.

“You look horrible! Oh Mari, I am so, so sorry.” Her friends voice was quieter now, and though Marinette felt warmth of Alya settling on the chair right by her bed, her insides turned cold. “I thought you ran to safety when I couldn’t see you anywhere, and instead you were hurt, and I didn’t help you. Some best friend I am!”

Alya was blaming herself. Marinette had failed-failed as Ladybug, failed Paris-and her best friend was blaming herself?

“Alya no! It wasn’t your fault!” _It was mine,_ she didn’t say.

Alya pursed her lips and looked over her friend with worry etched into every line of her face, but this, Marinette couldn’t see. At long last Alya sighed, with resignation. She hugged Marinette tightly and for a second Mari thought she could feel drops of something wet and warm hit her cheek.

But then Alya moved away and asked in a perfectly calm and clear voice:

“So, how are you feeling? No, I am stupid, don’t answer that. Of course you feel horrible – what even are all these things they got you on?”

Alya pointed to the IV bags and waited a beat, only to realize Marinette couldn’t see her gesture.

“I mean-the IVs, what are they giving you? At least some good drugs?”

Marinette smiled, a small hesitant thing though it was.

“Yup. The best. Makes everything feel like a dream. Maybe it is!” she tried to joke.

“Oh no you don’t, girl! If this was your dream, I am pretty sure there’d be –” Alya suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

“Chat Noir.”

Marinette scoffed. “What would Chat Noir be doing in my dream?”

“Meow-ch, that hurt, Princess. I am paws-itively dreamy!”

_Chaton_.

“Ch-Chat Noir?!”

Alya was having the wildest daydream, otherwise this was making no sense. The spandex-clad superhero climbed in through the window, his characteristic smirk falling off his face the moment he really saw Marinette.

“Oh Princess! Princess, what happened?”

His voice was so soft just then and Mari almost wept again. Almost.

“It’s nothing Chaton. ‘Tis just a flesh wound. You should have seen the other guy!”

_You should have seen the other guy?_ Really, Marinette? She groaned internally – but it must have worked, for both Alya and Chat giggled at her silly joke.

“That was horrible, Mari, even for you.” Alya giggled, grasping her hand.

“I am hilarious, and you know it.” Marinette deadpanned. “Now, Chat, as much as I appreciate seeing your pretty face, is there a reason you’re here?”

“Aw princess, you really think I am pre–” Chat started saying, then, at Alya’s guffaw, he realized she had her eyes bandaged and most definitely could not see him. “I wish you wouldn’t be so cruel to me.”

“Dream on, Alley Cat.”

“Alas, my sweet princess, it wasn’t you I came looking for – Miss Césaire, you think this Alley Cat could borrow you for a bit?”

“Me?”

“Her?”

Alya turned to exchange incredulous looks with Marinette, but her friend was still turned, unseeingly, away in Chat’s direction. Alya’s heart clenched painfully, so she turned back to Chat instead.

“I mean now isn’t the best time, but I suppose…”

“It’s okay, Alya, really, I mean, it’s not like I am gonna go anywhere…” Marinette gave her friend a bright smile, “Go, help him. God knows he needs all the supervision he can get.”

“Oi!” Chat exclaimed, but Alya was already dragging him outside, through the door this time around.

Marinette had her own reasons for wanting Alya to leave. She had a pretty good idea about why Chat would need the famous ladyblogger to help him, and if Ladybug was to make an appearance, Marinette needed to be alone.

“Tikki? Hey, Tikki, are you here?”

“Yes Marinette? What is it?” her Kwami’s soft voice answered.

“Can you make sure the door is locked?”

Mari heard the whoosh of air being displaced as the small creature whizzed across the room, then a metallic click, and voila. Instant privacy.

“Tikki – spots on!”

 

It was a weird feeling to be transformed into Ladybug, her senses coming back to her with a view of a crammed hospital room. She looked through the windows and her eyes watered at the sight of the bright blue sky.

No. She didn’t have time for this. She had to call Chat.

Opening her yo-yo communicator, the ladyblog popped up on the screen, and just as she expected, a fresh message from Chat Noir to Ladybug featured on the front page.

“Chat!” she spoke calmly into the answering machine, “I am okay, but I need some time to recover after that last akuma fight. Do you think you can handle Paris on her own for a few days? Don’t worry Kitty, I won’t leave you on your lonesome for too long. Bug out.”

With a sigh, she gave one last longing look to the open sky before de-transforming in a wave of searing pain.

“Shit,” she groaned.

Tikki’s healing powers must have washed all the sedatives out of her system, but now that she was separated from the kwami once more, she would have to pay for that.

 

Days passed by in a swirl of nurses and doctors. Now that she was awake they were continuously prodding and probing her with more and more tests, trying, in vain, to understand just what had caused her so much pain and damage. Marinette wasn’t fussed – she knew what caused her injury, flinching anytime her mind conjured the image of feral Chat Noir and a void-black aura of cataclysm closing in on her face. And just as clearly, she knew no doctor would be able to help.

The longer she laid there, the more resigned she felt.

The hospital made her feel strangely floaty. Sterile and disconnected.

It was almost safe, in a way.

That is, until it wasn’t anymore.

**“Mari, love!” her mother came into the room with a swirl of energy, “We’re finally taking you home!”**

 

 

**\-------**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sweet children, it will all be better soon ~~maybe~~
> 
> Next chapter is Adrien's POV... I wonder what cat-astrophe is in store for him :3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien 'Angst' Agreste with a side of Marichat cuteness
> 
> Let me know what you think :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the thanks and rainbow sugar sprinkles go to my Beta - Bell <3 they are amazing, seriously, go check out their blog: bellsrandomness.tumblr.com
> 
> If you ever wanna rant about ML or fandom stuff in general, come talk to me on tumblr! @preeshera.tumblr.com
> 
> Enjoy the chapter C:

\-----

 

 

“Adrien, your father is expecting you. Dinner will not be served tonight, per his instructions.”

He gave Natalie a thin smile. Letting out a harsh exhale and squaring his shoulders he stood up. This was not good. Father never wanted to talk to him these days unless something had displeased him.

“Come in,” Adrien straightened up and pushed the large door open hesitantly.

“Hello father,” he greeted placidly, “You needed me?”

“Yes. I am very disappointed Adrien. First you beg me to let you attend that inconsequential school, and now this?” A manila folder landed on the table between them with a low thud.

Adrien saw the handwriting of Ms. Bustier and the official school stamp. The realization dawned on him with dread – all the missed lessons. They must have sent an official reprimand.

“An explanation, Adrien.”

Adrien looked to the ground and tried controlling his shaking hands.

“I’m sorry, father. I didn’t mean to miss out so much. It’s just that I’ve been feeling sick a lot lately, and–”

“Sick? Well, that brings me to my second point quite nicely, doesn’t it? You know you must watch your diet. And by what you are saying, all that ridiculous cheese and sweets you sneak off your silly little friends are making you ill. This stops now, Adrien. I had a talk with your dietician, and the staff had been instructed.”

“But father!”

Gabriel Agreste gave his son such a withering look that Adrien instantly regretted ever speaking up.

“Yes, sir. I am sorry about the missed classes, I’ll be sure to let a teacher know properly when I am not feeling well.”

He curled his hands into fists to hide how badly they were shaking.

“May I go now?”

Gabriel had already moved onto flipping through a stack of paperwork. He gave Adrien a fleeting, distracted look.

“Ah, yes, yes. Leave me.”

The dietician was waiting for him by the dinner table – an empty one, to Adrien’s cargin. Words like ‘leaning out’ and ‘balanced and controlled diet’ swiveled around his head. He frowned when the words ‘the face of Agreste brand needs to be slim and elegant – not a musclehead’ left the dietitian's mouth. Slim and elegant was model-speak for skinny as hell, and Adrien could just bet that none of his new diet calculations accounted for all the extra calories he burned off by running around Paris saving lives.

His mind oh so helpfully supplied his father’s disapproving face, and his empty stomach churned. This was such bullshit - such utter bullshit. He stood up swiftly and left the baffled dietician without a word.

 

“I am so sick of this, Plagg. He treats me like an employee _all the time_.” Adrien kicked at his desk chair, then panicked and scrambled to catch it before it could hit the floor and make noise.

_‘I am pretty sure employees get holidays, kid.’_

Adrien glared at his kwami, but the black creature just threw a huge lump of cheese in the air and promptly swallowed it with gusto.

“Which reminds me, you’re getting cut off.”

_‘What do you mean by that?’_

“I mean that _my father_ prohibited me from ordering any more cheese, or food, apparently. I think he will soon demand I learn to photosynthesize my nutrients.” Adrien threw himself down on his bed moodily.

“I can just see it: ‘What do you mean you need food. You are such a disappointment.’ Right?”

Plagg stayed silent, pretending he didn’t see the tears gathering in Adrien’s eyes.

“Whatever. Plagg, transform me!”

The rush of darkness and power that came with becoming Chat Noir instantly lifted his mood. Finally, he could be free. Sneaking out of a large window, Chat jumped into the night.

 

He was jumping from rooftop to rooftop on the lookout for his lady – sure, she said she needed some time to recover, but it had been entirely too long. Well, okay, only couple of days, but he needed his Ladybug. Ah, the look of her dark hair, her sparkling blue eyes, her soft pink lips...

He sighed dreamily.

“Who’s there?”

Chat jumped up like a frightened kitten.

“I can hear you; what are you doing there!”

Wait. That voice sounded... _familiar_.

“Marinette?!”

His petite classmate straightened up to her full, rather unimpressive height as he hopped down from the higher rooftop and onto her balcony. He didn’t realize where he had landed until she spoke up – his feet had been running on autopilot through the busy Parisian streets. Now that he was paying attention though, he wondered just how he could have missed it. The bakery smelled divine.

His stomach rumbled loudly.

“How do you know my name?” She demanded turning towards him. He gasped. The large bulky bandage he remembered from the hospital still covered her head, blocking her eyes. That’d explain why she didn’t know him – he’d probably not recognize people by voice either… save, of course, for his Lady. Her sweet voice, he’d know anywhere.

“Hey! Seriously, who are you, and how did you even get here?!”

She grabbed at him then, and Chat let her catch his arm as he spoke up.

“Peace, Princess, it’s only me-ow.”

Marinette dropped her hand from him and smacked him, lightning fast, over the head. He had to congratulate her aim – he probably wouldn’t have been so lucky with his eyes covered.

“Mangy cat. You scared the life out of me.”

He wanted to answer with another silly pun, but alas, his stomach had other plans. It rumbled hungrily once more, and Chat was only glad she couldn’t see his reddening cheeks just then.

“Ah,” Mari grinned, “so that’s what brought you here. Of course – I should have known. Feed a stray once…” She trailed off as she groped for the trap door, carefully descending back into her room.

“What are you waiting for? Come in!”

Gobsmacked, he followed.

“So, what does Paris’ favorite superhero feel like eating tonight? Croissant? Brioche? Some of my mom’s famous stir fry?”

Chat only grinned sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders and throwing his arms out. Anything sounded great. After a beat of silence, he realized she was still waiting for a reply.

“Oh, sorry, I guess shrugging doesn’t really work with you right now.”

“No, it really doesn’t,” she replied grimly.

“I guess the stir fry sounds good, if that’s okay?”

Marinette gave him a soft smile “What else are friends for?”

He observed as she carefully navigated the space, holding onto a wall. Last he knew she was still in the hospital, but looking at her now it seemed she had had some time to get used to her house already. Inside of Chat Noir’s costume Adrien felt a pang of guilt – Nino and Alya had tried, multiple times, to get him to visit Marinette with them, but he could never make it. He cursed at his father internally, not for the first time that night. Mari deserved better.

Well, at least as Chat he would be able to make up for it.

“No mom, it’s fine, I can handle carrying a bowl on my own – honestly!” echoed from the corridor.

He ducked behind a dresser just to be safe, but when the doors opened, Marinette was alone.

“Chaton? Have you left already?”

It broke his heart a little how sad and small her voice had sounded just then.

“And leave my Princess without her faithful knight? Inconceivable!”

She shook her head with a laugh. “Not wanting to leave without dinner, more like it,” she muttered, but he could still spot a smile as she passed him the steaming bowl and chopsticks.

“Ehh, are you sure about this?” he asked, eying the twin pieces of wood warily.

“About what? The food?”

He poked her in the shoulder with a chopstick.

“Not that. It’s just that I am afraid my claws don’t really make good friends with these torture tools.”

Marinette laughed and he was instantly enchanted by the sound. She was too shy around him as Adrien, and this must have been the first time he heard her laugh like this.

“You are kinda pretty, you know?” he couldn’t stop himself from saying, mouth half full of noodles.

Then he realized just what he had said and went beet red.

“I mean, you are the, eh, purr-itiest Princess, of course, I,” he smacked himself in the forehead.

“Pretend I didn’t say anything?”

Marinette laughed again.

“Don’t sweat it, Chat. Sabine Cheng’s stir fry got better men to say stranger things,” she said sagely.

“What better men?” Chat sniffed faux-arrogant.

Marinette nudged him with her shoulder, still giggling. A peaceful sort of lull settled over them as Chat ate. Soon, the food was gone, the bowl set aside on her table, and the two of them climbed back onto the little balcony.

Sitting up there, shoulder to shoulder, feet swinging from the rooftop through the railing, Chat finally asked the question that burned on the forefront of his mind ever since he saw her lying bandaged and broken in that hospital bed.

“How are you taking this all?”

Marinette sighed.

“Honestly? I hate it. Everyone is walking on eggshells around me. My parents are crushed. Alya thinks this is all her fault, and right now I really cannot deal with a best friend who is falling to pieces. Oh, and I guess no one else cares.”

She huffed, and he arched one masked eyebrow.

“Oh, that’s not true. Now, I know fur a fact that most of your claws-mates visited! And what about this cat?” he motioned to himself exaggeratedly before realizing she couldn’t see.

“Just so you know, I am pointing at myself,” he stage-whispered, earning a soft giggle.

“Yeah, you’re right. I just-I don’t know. It’s all weird. I’m all weird.”

Chat wrapped an arm around her shoulder in a friendly gesture.

“It’s not like I want to mope around and throw myself a pity party - but I just feel so lost Chaton.” She sighed and he could tell she has been wanting to talk to someone openly for some time. “And I know it’s not the end of the world, I do, but... It kinda feels like it right now.”

“I am paws-itive it will all get better, Princess, just you wait.”

She scoffed, but he could see a small smile tugging at her lips.

Anger rolled deep in his belly. He should have been here much sooner. Marinette was his friend after all!

Screw his father and the empty great house that was his prison. Screw it all. If only he could he would turn to Chat Noir for good – live on the streets of Paris for all he cared. If it meant being able to help his friends, help Marinette, and see that sad smile turn bright again, he would trade it all in a heartbeat. He’d make a great alley cat. Or maybe, just maybe, his Lady would give him shelter... Now that was a pleasant idea!

Suddenly, a startled laugh escaped Marinette’s lips and tore him out of his thoughts.

“What happened?”

His classmate was trying in vain to cover up her giggles.

“You purred!”

Chat bristled. _No, he didn’t. He couldn’t have, could he?_

She was full on laughing now.

“I wonder–” she started, deep in thought before reaching out with her hands, as if looking for something. She made contact with his cheek first, cupping his face gently. But she quickly found her way around, and suddenly, there were two small hands carding through his hair. His ears twitched. Oh, but this felt _good_. His eyes fluttered close almost on instinct and then…

“I knew it! You are purring!”

She sounded so delighted he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Why did you stop?” He whined, purr sputtering out the second her hands had gone.

“Spoiled cat,” she laughed, and he pouted. Then he realized she couldn’t see and announced the pout for the good measure, making her laugh harder.

“I meant it, you know?”

“Meant what?”

“You really are pretty when you laugh.” On impulse, he bent down and kissed her forehead. “Take good care of yourself, Princess. I’ll see you around!”

**And just like that, he was gone, leaving the blushing girl behind.**

  
  
  


\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~You absolute forking dork, what have you done, Chat COME BACK~~
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Back to Marinette in the next chapter, probably sometime over the weekend :) Stay tuned and tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is more Marinette, more angst, and some dificult times for the Dupain-Chengs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Featuring an angry Marinette, lots of swearing and some angst... beware!
> 
> Also, tell me what you think? I love reading all your comments! :3
> 
> As always, I am grateful for my incredible, _pawsome_ Beta, Bell  <3

 

\-----

 

 

“Bullshit. Ever-fucking crap-covered hell!” Marinette exhaled heavily, her shoulders sagging in frustration. She was supposed to be happy to be home. Sure. She was in pain, completely blind,  treated like a ticking bomb by her parents, and couldn’t even make it to the bathroom without knocking something over,  _ but she was home. _

Tears of frustration welled in her eyes as she gripped at the piece of furniture she bumped into. See, all the blind people in movies somehow automatically knew where they were going, but that, she quickly learned, was some rotten Hollywood propaganda.

As if she were supposed to magically know the layout of her entire house by heart the second she lost sight.  _ Well _ , Marinette thought bitterly,  _ her brain must have not gotten the memo. _

She sat down hard on the tile floor and let the tears run free. Crying-that’s the only thing she was good at anymore.

_ ‘Cheer up, Marinette,’ _ Tikki spoke up softly from above her.

Yeah, right. Easier said than done.

The stupid bandages itched and her head still hurt in irregular intervals, but apparently, she was well enough not to be on the good drugs anymore. 

Marinette sighed. She hated this, all of it. Hated how she was angry all the time. Hated the noise, the dark, the stabbing pain behind her eyelids anytime she tried to lie down to sleep. Chat’s visit the other day made her feel so much better. She wished she could just go out and...

“Tikki, say, are my parents busy right now?”

The kwami pursed her lips disapprovingly, but Marinette wouldn’t have cared even if she could see – which she couldn’t.

‘ _ Last I checked they were downstairs in the bakery, but I don’t think –”  _ but the kwami never got to finish her sentence.

“Tikki, spots on!”

 

Flying on her yo-yo through Parisian streets was an amazing feeling. Marinette felt that she hadn’t truly appreciated being Ladybug before.

Sure, there were the akumas and the danger; she knew that  _ better _ than most. But even gray and cloudy, the vast expanse of the evening sky sang to her. She could finally see. Screw plain, boring,  _ blind _ Marinette – she was Ladybug. She was a superhero. She could do anything. 

Chat’s crimson eyes flashed in her mind, and she startled so badly she missed a step and twisted her ankle painfully, crashing down onto an empty roof. She shook as the memory took over. Distorted and unreal, it took a shape of her nightmares and  overtook her senses.

_ Chat Noir was walking towards her. His black suit looked different, darker somehow. It was bulkier in the shoulders and made him look imposing. Monster-like. He smirked at her, but his teeth looked too sharp. His eyes were all wrong. Not warm, not laughing, but red – like blood. _

_ Marinette shook like a leaf. _

_ Then she realized her shaking legs weren’t covered in the polka-dotted red and black of her suit. She wasn’t Ladybug, just herself. Just Marinette. _

_ Chat let loose a cold, disturbing laugh. _

_ “My Lady.” he crooned, faux-sweetness, like venom, dripping from the words. _

“My Lady?”

“Buginette?! What happened? Are you okay?!”

The warm, familiar voice colored with so much fright and concern was what finally brought her out of the episode. This was her Chat   _ –  _ this bright, warm, friendly presence. Not that horrible nightmare.

“Ladybug?”

Marinette shook off like a wet dog and tried to piece her confident Ladybug persona back together.

“Hey Chaton,” she said softly and met the familiar pair of bright green eyes after a beat of hesitation.

“Don’t just ‘Hey Chaton’ me! What happened LB? You looked totally terrified there...” He was drawing in a breath to continue on his rant, but stopped at the look on her face.

“I am sorry I worried you, Chat Noir. I am still a bit shaken by the last attack, that’s all.”

His expression turned somber.

“Have I told you that I am sorry?”

“No! Chat you know it wasn’t your fault!”

“I used my Cataclysm on you, you could have died!”

“And I didn’t. It wasn’t you, it was the akuma, and you know it – just like you knew it all those other times. I am fine, really.”

Suddenly, she didn’t feel like being Ladybug was helping her mood anymore. She swung her yo-yo around and pushed off the rooftop without a single look back.

“See you at patrol, Minou.”

 

The moment she de-transformed she fell prone to the floor. Part of it was the banging headache caused by the meds Lady-bugging out of her system. Part was her general lack of will to attempt to get anywhere like this.

After a few beats, her head cleared a smidge, and she almost went to sit up, when she heard a strange noise from down below.

She realized where she landed must be directly above the kitchen, and straining her ears to focus as much as she could, she heard the whispered argument from downstairs.

“Sabine, you can’t mean to lie to her forever.” She covered her mouth. Daddy never argued with mom. It was always her chiding  _ him _ for something or other.

“She is not ready for another set of bad news. Tom, she barely gets up in the morning. She doesn’t eat properly. What good would it do to tell her?”

There was a beat of silence, and Marinette could feel tears pricking her eyes underneath the bandage. Her parents, her loving, amazing, supportive parents were arguing because of her.

“False hope doesn’t help anyone. She needs to accept her condition and learn how to move on, Sabine. We all do.”

With a gasp Marinette realized her mom was crying.

Enough.

She shot up to her feet and after fumbling for a few steps she threw herself in the general direction of her bed. 

_ Accept her condition? Move on? _ They had no idea, Marinette realized. Her parents thought she believed her blindness was only temporary. They thought she didn’t know!

Well, yes, it was easy to pretend with the bandages pressing heavy over her eyes, but Marinette wasn’t stupid. Cataclysm to the fucking face doesn’t just heal.

Not overnight. And probably not ever. If Tikki couldn’t heal her she doubted some conventional medicine had a shot.

But they thought she didn’t know. How could she have? 

_ And they’re arguing about how to tell me... _ Marinette thought grimly. Her musings, however, were cut short by footsteps coming up the stairs towards her room.

Marinette focused on the footsteps, but she had honestly no idea. Seriously, popular culture gave her such unrealistic expectations for this. A soft knock on the door echoed around her quiet room.

“Come in!”

“Hello dear, how are you feeling?”  _ Mom drew the short straw, then. _

“Okay. Blind.” Marinette said dryly, then instantly regretted it.

“I am sorry mama, I don’t know what’s wrong with me these days – I feel so angry all the time.”

Warm arms wrapped around her and her mother’s comforting smell calmed her down.

“Here, it’s okay love, it’s okay. I am pretty sure you are not the first teenager to ever snap at her mom. Given the situation, I would say you have more reasons than most.”

Marinette nodded, lips pursed.

“Do you feel like coming down? Your father and I need to talk to you about some things. It can wait if you are tired, or –”

“No, mom, I’m fine. Help me down?”

Marinette let herself be led by the hand like a child and tried her best not to feel too bitter about it. She could just about make it into the kitchen on her own these days. She asked her parents not to move furniture around and leave things in her path so she could move around on her own. Sadly, they all forgot about it way too often for her to be sure she could make the longer trips through the house unscathed.

It was probably a good thing that Marinette couldn’t see her parents just then. Sabine’s blotchy red eyes and Tom’s worried, tired look wouldn’t have made the upcoming talk any easier.

“Marinette, your father and I,” her mom started, but her voice broke, “your father and I need to tell you something important.”

_ I know mama. I know, it’s okay,  _ Marinette wanted to say, but she remained silent and still.

“We decided to move away from Paris.”

_ Wait. _ Rage bubbled inside her like hot lava.

“What? What do you mean move away?!” Marinette demanded angrily, “why would you do that? And what about the bakery? Mom you can’t be serious!”

“Calm down, Marinette,” her father pleaded.

“We found an amazing institute that could help you, and we decided it is worth moving for.”

“ _ You _ decided?! Well that’s just grand, isn’t it. None of you thought to ask the poor, blind Marinette what she thought about it, have you?!”

She was screaming now, but she didn’t care.

“Well if you think I will let you abandon all your dreams and hard work just because of me, you are wrong. I will stay in Paris alone if I have to. I am not going anywhere!”

Her father was about to say something, but she stood up, storming off into her room. If she knocked over a chair or two on her way, or stubbed her toe on the stairs, it really was nobody’s business but her own.

_ I will not let them do this _ , she seethed internally once she finally made it into her room.

_ I just won’t allow it! _ Her hands clenched into fists as she tried to restrain the angry tears threatening to spill. 

_ You won’t allow it? How cute.  _ A cruel little voice piped up inside her head.  _ And what exactly do  _ **_you_ ** _ think you can do about it? _

Marinette bit her lip. 

Arms extended in front of her she made her way towards her table, there she pawed at the smooth wood for a second before managing to locate her phone.

She unlocked it with her thumb and calmed her shaking voice to activate the voice recognition:

“Siri? Call Alya Cesaire, please!”

Three beeps later her best friend picked up with a wall of blabber.

“Marinette? Are you okay? Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Do I need to come over?!”

“ALYA!”

“Oh, yes, sorry,” her friend apologized sheepishly, “Chilling out. Sorry. No overcompensating – I remember what you said the last time.”

Marinette sighed.

“I need my awesome, smart, incredible best friend to work a miracle for me. Is she there, or is this my new helicopter mother talking?”

Alya grumbled.

“So, which one is it?”

“Your best friend, always.” she replied dutifully. “So what is it, Mari, you sound kinda, well, mad?”

“It’s my parents. They want us to move away from Paris - to some village that has this  _ amazing institute _ for blind kids.”

There was a beat of silence.

“That sucks. But maybe the new school will be super great for you, and, and I can always come to visit, right? I’ll drag Nino, and Adrien with me! And Juleka, Rose and Alix will want to come too, I –”

“No!” Marinette stopped her resolutely.

“No? You don’t want us to visit?” Alya asked, her voice tiny.

“No, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to move away, and I don’t want to go to some super special school for blind kids. I want my old life back - okay? I know that I can’t see now, okay, I know! But plenty of people can’t, and  _ they _ aren’t all locked away in some  _ institutes  _ in the  _ countryside _ !”

Stunned silence followed suit.

“Mari, I...” Alya started gently, but Marinette interrupted her again.

“Alya – I don’t need your pity! God knows I have enough by myself. What I really need right now is my best friend to help me find some way around this. I know my parents don’t really want to leave. The bakery is their  _ life _ Alya. And I don’t want to take that away, not because of this.”

“I get it, Mari, I do. I will go do some research – I promise I will find something!”

The new fire in Alya’s voice spread warmth of relief in Marinette’s belly. Finally. Her best friend was back.

**They could do this.**

 

 

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next: More Adrien, badass Alya, and lots more swearing, apparently I canna help myself ^^;


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is more Adrien, Alya being a total BAMF, oh, and lots more swearing, cause apparently I canna help myself ^^;

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, big big thanks to my amazing Beta, Bell :) You're an awesome noodle, my dude, and I couldn't do this without you!
> 
> Another shout out to Tala, who is a darling, and to all of you who commented and liked this work, here or on tumblr, ILY <3
> 
> I'm trying to keep a good posting schedule, and comments keep me super motivated, just saying ;) *wink wink, nudge nudge* tell me what you think ^v^

 

**Her best friend was back.**

**They could do this.**

 

 

\-----

“ _Can you fucking believe this_?!”

Adrien’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline and Nino startled so badly he fell, chair and all, sprawling onto the floor.

Everyone in the classroom turned at the clamor, but Alya, who was the one to cause it, didn’t so much as blink.

“It’s completely unfair!” She ranted on, slamming an official looking letter onto the desktop.

“Babe, you know how we talked about you using full complete sentences around stupid people? Including myself?” Nino piped up hesitantly from below the desk.

“What?” Alya snapped, eyes blazing.

“He meant, Miss Césaire, that we don’t know what you are talking about. And, seeing as it is the start of our lesson, I would prefer you sit down and discuss this matter with your friends during break time.”

Alya flinched when Miss Bustier spoke up - not expecting the young teacher there. However, Adrien noted with slight amusement, she took it well in her stride.

“Miss Bustier! You have to see this!” Alya insisted, waving the paper around.

“I am sure there’ll be plenty of time after–” The teacher started, but Alya interrupted her speech by forcing the letter into her hands.

“The-the School Board, Miss Césaire? What is this about?” Miss Bustier suddenly sounded very nervous. It wasn’t a secret that she had been rather twitchy around the Principal and the school administration ever since she got akumatized. Alas, Alya – true to her form – completely ignored their teacher’s unease and plowed on.

“Why, it’s about Marinette coming back to school, of course!”

Everyone in the class perked up. Even Chloé schooled her eyes on Alya in rapt attention.

“Ma-Marinette?”

“Yes, of course! She’s getting better and she needs to come back to school!” Alya said this, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“But, well, I mean, Miss Césaire, surely?” stuttered the teacher carefully.

“How _could_ she come back to regular school, she can’t see now, stupid.” Chloé scoffed and Sabrina nodded enthusiastically.

Alya’s eyes flashed with lightning and Adrien and Nino both instinctively edged back in their seats.

“That is blatant discrimination! Marinette was a victim of an akuma attack. And besides, there is plenty of learning aids and tools she could use to stay in regular school.”

Miss Bustier looked as if she wanted to protest, but Alya didn’t allow any interruptions.

“See, I’ve contacted this company that works with schools all across the country, and _they_ said they’d donate one of their school tech sets to her. See, one of the owners got akumatized before, and he’s quite keen on some good press. Whatever. They promised the full kit, free of charge! They’d even deliver it and all, they just need the school’s permission. But the school board said no! Can you believe it?!”

“Alya, I am really sorry, but it’s not that easy...” Miss Bustier tried, but Alya turned on her angrily.

“Yes, it is! Marinette is our classmate. Our class president. If this happened to anyone else she would fight for us! And they are just denying my request because they want to save money. They even wrote it in their reply - the cost to the school would be too great to undertake - as if. I calculated it! Marinette could get a guide dog; she wouldn’t need an extra teacher. And whatever they’d have to spend on electricity, well, we could-”

Adrien paled when he realized Alya was close to tears. She sniffed, steeling her resolve, as she continued.

“We could fundraise. Mari is our friend. It’s not fair that she’s not allowed to come back just so the school can save some money!”

“She’s right!” Alix shot up.

“Yeah!” Ivan added and Mylene and Rose joined up. Juleka too, until one by one the entire class was speaking up.

Adrien made eye contact with Chloé above Sabrina’s head.

She turned her head away and pulled out her phone. Adrien sighed. Maybe the others were right about her after all...

“Quiet down, quiet down everyone!” Miss Bustier spoke up, fresh resolve on her face.

“I understand you feel very strongly about this. I will go to Mr. Damocles and speak to him on your behalf. I think it would also be a good idea to get your parents to call the school board - maybe we can put them under pressure to change their mind.”

Everyone in the class cheered.

“And now, back to the actual class!” Miss Bustier instructed.

 

Breaktime found Adrien on the benches outside, together with Nino and Alya, who looked close to tears again.

“Hey, babe, it’s okay. We’ve got this. Marinette will be back with us in no time, just you wait.” Nino said and Adrien wished he could say something that would make Alya feel better. She looked from her boyfriend to Adrien to the papers in her hand and started sobbing.

“Don’t cry, Alya, we can still do this.”

“I was so sure I could do this for her,” Alya finally spoke, wiping her eyes, “I had it all planned, you see! I applied her for a guide dog, researched the school equipment, all sorts of computer programs and phone apps to help her get around, I even e-mailed the school board, but...” she broke into tears again.

“Nothing is working!”

“That’s not true Ali, you know it isn’t. Miss Bustier will speak to Mr. Damocles, and I am sure he will want to help too - he knows Marinette, he knows she is a great chick and all!”

“It’s not only that.” Alya confessed, pulling out another paper from her bag.

Adrien shuffled closer to see, but Alya’s hands were shaking too badly to read it.

“The Guide Dog foundation people replied to me. ‘We regret to inform you that your application was declined, due to the applicant not fulfilling all our criteria.’ Get that, not fulfilling their criteria?!”

Adrien took the paper out of her hands.

 _Oof._ That was some spectacularly bad luck. To get a guide dog, apparently, you had to be 16 or above. Marinette, at fourteen, just didn’t qualify.

Adrien read on and gasped when he saw how much a fully trained dog would be to purchase, if the Dupain-Chengs decided to get it for Marinette.

“There is no way her parents can afford to buy her one. Or hire a carer to take her around.”

“We could do it!” Nino offered in a heartbeat but Alya sighed.

“None of us could be with her all the time. We have different classes, you live in a completely different arrondissement. And I am not exactly sure her parents would trust a bunch of teenagers to not screw up with this - it is a pretty big responsibility. Besides, Marinette would probably be all weird about it - you know how she is with accepting help.”

Nino, who had been Marinette’s friend since they were little kids, in fact knew very well. Getting Mari to accept help was kind of like feeding a wrinkled euro note into a vending machine-it didn’t really work and it made everyone involved rather frustrated.

“Alya,” Adrien spoke up suddenly as an idea struck him, “what about your Ladyblog?”

She looked up at him, eyes squinting.

“What about it?”

“Well, you’ve got a pretty decent following, no? Listen, Marinette got hurt in an akuma attack. I bet if you did a cover of her story on your blog with a fundraiser page, people would donate!”

Alya made a considering sound.

“This could work.”

“I am sensing a _but_ there, babe.” Nino piped up, hugging Alya around her shoulders.

“You know how Marinette is... She wouldn’t like this.”

“Do we have to tell her?”

The trio exchanged conspiratory looks. Alya smirked and grabbed her phone, already typing.

“It’s decided then!”

 

Adrien was surprised how fast everything took off after that. Not a full day later a flustered school board member interrupted their lunch, taking Alya aside to inform her that the school board _sincerely apologized_ for the misunderstanding, and _of course Miss Dupain-Cheng would be more then welcome back_. Alya wondered loudly how Miss Bustier could have pulled that one off so quickly, but Adrien wondered. Stealing a glance towards Chloé, busy on her large glittery phone, he smirked. His childhood friend was still ready to be hero just as long as no one could track the good deed back to her, it seemed.

The next day Alya came to school late with a look of shell-shocked wonder on her face.

“We’ve got the money, guys.”

“What, already?!” Nino yelled, making bunch of their classmates look up.

“I can’t believe how many people donated, we have _more_ than enough, and it’s been only like, what, two days?!”

Alya was bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

“I already got in touch with the foundation people, Mari could be getting a dog as soon as she is ready to go through their training.”

“She has to train? What for?” Nino seemed rather confused.

“They don’t give the dogs away just like that, mate,” Adrien explained, “they have to teach you how to work with the dog first – all the commands, and how to instruct it properly. It’s a lot more work than it seems, you know.”

Alya nodded as Nino made some considering sounds.

“Well, what do you guys say we pay Marinette a little visit after school and break the good news to her?”

Adrien gave his friends a sad look.

“Let me guess, you have a photoshoot.”

He nodded grimly.

“Tell Marinette all the best from me?”

“Hey, don’t sweat it dude,” Nino smiled, but Alya’s expression was stormy.

“Your dad should really let up, I mean, you have your own life for Pete’s sake.” She drew in a sharp breath, “and you know, Mari would probably be really happy to see you.”

Adrien looked up at her in surprise.

“Are you sure? I mean, I know she doesn’t hate me _so much_ anymore…” he trailed off. Marinette was a great person, and he thought of her as a friend, but he knew she didn’t like him very much.

Alya, to his surprise, just looked pointedly at Nino and groaned.

“Guys.” She lamented as she strode off to her seat.

_Now what was all that about?_

 

Adrien’s good mood managed to last him as far as the threshold of his house. There it vanished with a churn of stomach and a skype call from his father.

“Adrien. As Natalie has informed you I am in New York for the launch of our new brand.”

He frowned and Adrien flinched.

“I must say I am rather disappointed with the progress of your diet - the fashion week is coming closer and let me make things clear to you, should you not perform to my standards, you will not be returning to school come fall.”

Adrien’s face fell. Anger simmered hot in his chest, but he bit his tongue.

“Yes father. I won’t let you down.”

“You certainly will not.”

The screen went black and Natalie gave him a look of tight lipped concern.

“I will be upstairs studying for my physics exam. Please do not disturb me,” he said flatly.

Chat Noir was climbing out of the window of Agreste manor the moment Adrien closed his door. Tears stung in his eyes but he was adamant not to let them fall. He focused instead on his empty, growling stomach and tried to fill it with images of his school friends, of all the nice memories he made that year. He wished it had worked a bit better.

Without realizing he was once again at the roof of a familiar bakery, deep in thought while glancing at the empty balcony below him. It was silly that his feet had carried him there, of all places. Marinette had bigger things to worry about than hungry strays... And yet, the smell of the bakery was giving him warmth, and oddly, a measure of peace.

“Chat? Is that you? I swear if I get murdered one day I’ll haunt his sorry ass...”

“What was it about my ass, Princess?” He jumped down behind her with a smirk on his face.

And if he took any joy in how she jumped up in fright, well, _there was_ _no proof_.

“Stupid.” _Smack!_ “Darn.” _Smack!_ “Alley cat!!”

He grabbed her wrists and pressed a quick peck to her cheek.

“Happy to see you too!”

Marinette grumbled something under her breath, but still made space for him to join her by the railing.

“So, what is it today, Chaton, came by to fill your tummy again?”

He was glad Marinette couldn’t see him flinch at the mention of food. Although when a warm hand reached in his direction and slowly patted up his arm, he knew she still must have sensed something was wrong.

“Chat? You know I was just kidding, I am happy to share with you - really! Superheroes need their food, you know.”

“No, no, it’s okay... It’s just. Can you keep a secret?”

Marinette bit her lip and he watched the motion completely mesmerized.

“Of course I can - but you know your identity is best kept just to yourself.”

“What?! No, that’s not - Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I am paws-itively horrified you would even suggest that.”

She smacked his shoulder and he laughed, ploping down onto the sun-warmed roof. Marinette sighed, but joined him nonetheless.

“Really now, I like to think you are my friend, and if something is troubling you, I want to help. Well, if I can, and honestly, there really isn’t much I can help you with how I am.” she said sourly and Chat raised his eyebrows.

She said he was her _friend_. This was amazing! At least as Chat Noir he managed to get into her good graces, even though Adrien Agreste had failed.

“It’s just, well. This might sound silly but in real life - when I am not Chat Noir - I model. And my manager,” my _father_ he didn’t say, “thinks I need to lose weight. I have a proper dietician of course, every calorie accounted for. Only, you know, they don’t exactly know about the superhero gig.”

Marinette was facing him, mouth agape. It was difficult, judging her expression with the bandage covering her eyes, but he was pretty sure that was pure shock right there. Then her face hardened.

“That is horrible! Your manager should know better. You are a teenager, you need to eat! You’re growing, for fuck’s sake. It’s extremely unhealthy for you to be dieting! And besides, you are so skinny already, if you lose any more weight, you’ll disappear. And then Ladybug will have to fight akumas on her own! You won’t do that to her, will you?”

That was a low blow.

“You know Chat, I have a friend in my class who does modeling, and I am sure he’d tell you the same thing. You can’t model if you’re not healthy. What do your parents think about it?”

Adrien fought to keep his composure, to hold onto the mask of carefree Chat Noir. He was a superhero now, freedom in black mask. He left the demons of Agreste mansion behind - or so he told himself.

“Yeah, you are right,” he spoke up finally. No sense in making Marinette worry.

“I can hear you, Minou,” she said softly.

“Wh-what?” Adrien yelped as she put both her hands on his shoulders.

“I can hear you are still sad. Now come here.”

That was it. Marinette Dupain-Cheng gave hugs so great it made your soul leave your body.

And Chat purred. Loud and unashamed, he clung to that one warm and bright thing in his life.

“Now that’s better,” Marinette laughed. “Come on in, I’ll get you something to eat.”

All the good feelings froze immediately. Gabriel Agreste’s angry face lit up in Adrien’s mind and stole all the warmth away. He stepped back from Marinette’s embrace and cleared his throat.

“I am sorry, Princess, but this alley cat cannot stay tonight. The city of Paris needs her heroes, after all.”

He vanished from the balcony before she could call after him.

Feeling grimmer than before, he crawled back into his room. The place was too empty for him, too huge, too cold, too much of everything that wasn’t home at all. He made himself a nest of blankets in the corner behind his bed and pulled out his phone.

The days like these the pictures of his mom were the only thing that could really make him better. He flicked through her smiling, sun-filled photos and dreamed about a better life where his mom would be back, where his dad wouldn’t hate him. Where he could fall asleep and wake up to something better than this cold and empty house.

When he fell asleep for real, his dreams took different shapes though. Less anchored. Abstract. He dreamed of black spots on red dresses. Of dark blue hair and bright blue eyes. Of Marinette, running through a field of flowers with a smile brighter than the sun. Of warm hugs and warmer kisses. It was the privilege of dreams, to know beyond knowing and to show beyond wanting, after all.

Come morning he would remember nothing of it all.

 

_TBC_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter, there will be a lot of Sunshine *runs away giggling*


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter where there is a lot of Sunshine, as promised :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, I meant to post this over the weekend, but somehow it's Monday night and here we are TxT 
> 
> My eternal thanks go to my amazing beta Bell, [BlueGryphoness](http://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueGryphoness/pseuds/BlueGryphoness), who tbh is like 90% of why you have updates :D another shout out goes to [CompilerCat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CompilerCat), who is a sweetheart and commented on every single chapter (which made me super happy ^v^)  
> and of course, my thanks to all of you who comment on and like this fic - I hope you continue to enjoy it ♥

.... 

 

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, I swear to god, if you don’t get your gorgeous ass down here  _ this instant _ -” Mari groaned and burrowed her head underneath her fluffy pillow. She couldn’t see the fluorescent display on her bedside alarm clock, but she knew for a fact it was way too early to be up on a Saturday morning. Hawkmoth had been suspiciously silent the past few weeks, and with her injury Marinette had  _ hoped _ she would be able to get a lie in. But no. Her best friend hated her. Mari groaned and hid under her covers.

Alya, however, was not so easily dissuaded. Blankets were quickly swept aside, and Marinette whined pitifully.

“Deception. Disgrace. Your best friend, blind and defenseless in her bed, and this is how you treat her?”

Alya gave her a (rather useless) flat look.

“Right. Come on up, you. Nino is waiting downstairs with your parents; we’re going out.”

“Nino?” Marinette asked, frowning, “Out?”

Alya scoffed, pulling clothes out of the dresser as she replied.

“Yup. We’ve got a surprise for you. Now up and at ‘em!”

Mari had to admit that curiosity got the better of her, and she got ready in record time - having Alya to help didn’t hurt either. Although her friend had gotten her a bunch of really helpful apps that could help recognize pieces of clothing, colors, and household objects using her smartphone camera, having an actual person help was miles better.

When they got downstairs, Nino was already jumping up and down all around the bakery. Tom and Sabine were leaving last minute instructions with Alice, a family friend who looked after the counter for them every once in a while. Marinette couldn’t help but wonder at the warm, fluffy feeling that blossomed in her chest. She felt, dare she say, hopeful?

“Okay Marinette, we’ve got this  _ all planned _ !” Nino exclaimed and she could felt him bustle around her. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Alya asked just as Marinette could feel something soft settle over her head.

“We can’t have her peeking, now can we!” Nino exclaimed jovially.

“Lahiffe, you absolute idiot.” A loud smack of Alya’s hand hitting her forehead sounded at the time with Marinette laughing and stage whispering: “Nino, you realize I am blind, right? With my eyes bandaged?”

“No?!” Nino gasped theatrically as the girls laughed. And for a moment, Marinette was perfectly happy. Her friends had her back, they weren’t treating her any different for her injury, and she felt content. She couldn’t see the worried look on her mom’s face, nor the concern on Alya’s. She couldn't see, but for that single fleeting moment, she was happy.

They filed into Sabine and Tom’s little Ford, and Alya filled the ride with a perfect impenetrable wall of aimless chatter. If Marinette didn’t know her so well, she’d have been impressed.

“So, we’re almost there. I warn you again, Dupain-Cheng,  _ no peeking _ !” Nino announced, and Mari laughed, smacking him as he removed the -completely redundant- blindfold.

“Alright, alright. I promise.” Marinette huffed, “Now move it, DJ, we’re getting old in this car.”

They all filed out of the car, and Marinette turned all around, listening for familiar sounds. Alya has confiscated her phone so she couldn’t check google maps for where they were headed, and the street sounded like nothing she knew. It seemed quiet and calm, well away from the bustling streets of the center and the pedestrian noise Mari grew accustomed to.

“Would you like to grab my shoulder?” Alya asked carefully and Marinette just nodded, trying to figure out where it was they were taking her.

Few paces along Alya slowed down and pointed out steps. Then Mari heard a creak of a doorway and they went inside of a building. She could still feel the warm sun on her face, but the air smelled of disinfectant-almost like a hospital, but not quite.

“The Dupain-Chengs?” young, female voice piped up from in front of them, and Mari heard her parents shake hands and make pleasantries with someone.

“So, you are Marinette I take it? I heard your friends organized this all for you as a surprise?”

“Yes, and yes.” Mari confirmed. “I am sorry, but who are you?”

The woman laughed.

“Oh, my, of course, I am sorry dear. My name is Audrey, and I will be your coordinator and trainer here,” she said with laughter still warm in her voice.

Trainer? What was this, some sort of gym for blind people? Marinette really hoped Alya wasn’t that cruel.

They walked through another set of doors and Alya helped her sit down. This room smelled differently. Not of disinfectant, but of something familiar that Mari couldn’t quite place.

“So what do you say guys, ready?”

All three teens let out an excited “yes” and laughed in unison.

What was it? Mari positively buzzed when the door opened again. Straining her ears, she froze.

She could hear one other person walk in, no, two?

She concentrated so hard on listening she yelped when something warm and  _ wet _ touched her hand.

“Marinette, this is Sunshine,” Audrey spoke softly, “He is a fully trained guide dog here at Les Chiens Guides, and your friends got him for you, to help you go about your life.”

Mari let out a gasp as she listened to what she now realized was a dog shimmy about in front of her, bumping his nose into her hands excitedly.

She was shocked.

“A-a guide dog?”

“Yup.” Alya said, “All yours. You’ll have to train first, of course, get your dog-drivers license and all.”

Marinette could feel tears prickling at her eyes but for the first time in weeks they were not sad tears.

“But Maman, Papa, what about the bakery?”

Lead dropped into her stomach at that realization - no, no, she knew it was against regulations to have pets around the house when bakery was downstairs with shared areas.

“Calm down, Marinette,” Tom spoke levely. “There are exceptions for cases like these. We are applying for a special permit to allow for Sunshine to come home with us.”

“Meanwhile,” Alya piped up, “you’ll be staying with me! My parents are super excited, and we already cleared out Louis’ room...”

Marinette couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed.

She ran her fingers through the soft fur of the dog in front of her, who sat patiently and listened as the people around him spoke. Mari could hear rhythmic thumps she guessed must be Sunshine’s tail, and gradually, she could feel the panic leave her.

She threw her arms around Alya and thanked all of them through sobs, giggling, when she noticed Sunshine was licking at her knees through the fabric of her jeans.

“Don’t you worry a thing about it, girl,” Alya exclaimed and Mari could hear the grin in her best friend’s voice. “We’ve got you.”

Marinette pulled her into another hug at that, and Nino too, thanking all of them again and again.

After they all calmed down, Audrey took her aside and explained some things about Sunshine, about taking care of him and the formal training they would have to go through before they were both ready to work as a team.

By the time they piled into the car Marinette was alight with excitement.

“I can’t believe you’ve managed this!”

“Well, it wasn’t just us.” Nino grinned. “My man Adrien helped too, ya know!”

Marinette went bright pink. “A-Adrien?!”

Alya and Nino exchanged shit-eating grins that Mari couldn’t see and filled the car with their guffawing laughter.

“Marinette,” her mom spoke from the front seat, and Mari could hear the worry in her voice, “what do you think about the guide dog? Do you like the idea? You know you don’t have to do all this if you don’t want to.”

Marinette noticed the tense silence in the car - it was clear the others didn’t share her mom’s concerns, but she was glad that mom had asked. She straightened her back and smiled widely from in between Nino and Alya as she replied, “No, mom, I want to - this could be my best chance to get a working pair of eyes, after all.”

Sabine hummed her agreement, but said nothing more. It was Tom who spoke up next.

“Well, we’re sure happy to hear that. There is one more bit of good news there to go with Sunshine,” he said and Marinette inclined her head to the side, curious what more could this mean to her.

“Yes?”

“Principal Damocles agreed to let you return to school once you and Sunshine have completed your training.”

 

\---

_TBC_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next: Some Adrien Angst-reste™ and Marichat fluff
> 
> \-----
> 
> Did you like the chapter? Any thoughts? Come talk to me on [tumblr](http://preeshera.tumblr.com/)
> 
> ~~Also, I know I am too much of a dork, but did anyone get the reference from the title of this fic?~~


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is some angst, but mostly just fluff cause we all need some hugs and cuddles every once in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter was a bit late and a bit short, so have this long silly monstrosity as a sorta apology :D
> 
> Did I say angst? Did I? I lied, okay, maybe not completely, but this is honesty just Marichat fluff with a side of plot *waves hands desperately* enjoy?

 

 

It was only Wednesday but Adrien was just about done with the week. His new diet made him constantly irritable and the busy schedule in the build up to the summer fashion week didn’t exactly help. He clenched his fist to stop the shaking of his hand. He knew his father  _cared_ , he did, but sometimes he wished his dad could love him for who he was, instead of pushing him to who Gabriel wanted him to be. At the image of his father's disappointing face, Adrien's stomach churned unpleasantly.

Breathe in, breathe out.  _ That’s better _ . He managed to plaster the fake, smooth model smile back onto his face and face the camera crew.

Adrien tried to keep his focus, but this day just wasn't cutting him any slack.

The afternoon sun was beating down on the photoshoot despite the tents and umbrellas the photographer had brought out, and Adrien just about had it with the entire thing. His stomach was growling, his mood was shitty, and his mind kept drifting back to Nino’s disappointed expression when he had had to bail on their agreed hang out, once again — by a last minute photoshoot.

_ “I swear, man, your dad is an actual slave driver. This is child labor. There should be laws about this.” Nino huffed at him, shooting an incredulous look at his girlfriend in the seat behind him. _

_ “I am pretty sure there are laws about it,” Alya piped up but still gave Adrien an encouraging smile. Adrien sighed. _

_ “He is not that bad, guys. And I am really sorry about today, I’ll just have to come have ice cream with you some other day.” _

_ Alya eyed him strangely. _

_ “Man, you don’t understand! We wanted to make it a surprise, but screw that, Marinette is coming too - she’s got her guide dog and they are finally street ready, dude. This is their field test, and well,” he glanced at Alya, “we thought it would be nice if we were all there.” _

Adrien’s mood darkened just remembering the conversation again. The photographer snapped something about keeping a light expression, but Adrien was feeling anything but airy at the moment. Marinette might not like him much, but he still considered her a good friend - he really wanted to be there for her with the others. 

And so it went on, the photographer getting angrier as Adrien’s mood got darker and darker.

“That’s it! I cannot look at this  _ desastre _ any longer!” yelled the balding artist finally and stormed off in a huff. Adrien looked around with dread as a flustered assistant went around thanking everyone for their hard work and stating they would continue the next day.

He hoped against hope his father would chalk this up to the artistic eccentricity and won’t look for someone to blame. 

He pulled out his phone, careful not to jostle the sleeping kwami in his bag. Six forty. Too late to make it to the ice cream parlor on time. He looked up and around, noting that Gorilla and Natalie were both nowhere to be seen. Maybe he could go visit Marinette as himself this time?

_ But would she even want to see me? No. Chat Noir was a far safer bet. _

He shook off his grim thoughts and went to get his bodyguard-driver to take him home. Going straight for his room, Adrien didn’t even bother putting on the piano music this time. He gave Plagg a sharp nudge and hissed:

“Come on, you’ve slept enough for both of us. Duty calls.”

Plagg bit his finger and growled something snide, but Adrien didn’t care.

“Claws out!”

 

It was a giddy, liberating feeling to jump across the rooftops of Paris as Chat Noir. Normally he’d take some time and revel in this newfound freedom, but he had a mission. Soon, he was standing on a balcony above a divine smelling bakery. 

Three knocks later, and Chat Noir was climbing down Marinette’s skylight.

He looked around the room in surprise.  _ Was she not home yet? _

The light of late afternoon sun bathed the room in warm yellows and oranges, and, for the first time, Chat had a good look around the room. He mostly visited at night - and was usually too preoccupied by Marinette to pay much attention - but now... Wait. What was his picture doing there? Not Chat Noir, but Adrien Agreste was staring back at him from Marinette’s wall. His eyes widened as he went over the collection of his modeling pictures.  _ Was she his fan all this time?! _

_ Don’t be stupid. _ A different voice snarked from within him. He then noticed the rest of the wall decorations - sketches of outfits and accessories, the newest fall collection fashion photographs, and what he recognized as some of his father’s most famous designs. 

_ Of course. _

He could have smacked himself.  _ Jeesh, way to be conceited, Agreste. _ Marinette wasn’t some crazed fan of him - no. His friend was just a big admirer of his father’s fashion designs, designs that Adrien commonly modeled.

He felt a blush creeping up his face.  _ I am an idiot. _

For some strange reason it made him kind of happy, though, the simple fact she had pictures of him around...

 

He waited for some time, stretched lazily across Marinette’s little couch. As it slowly got dark, he realized it probably hadn’t been such a bright idea to come in alone, technically uninvited.  _ What if someone found him there? He really should leave.  _ He felt the disappointment creeping up to him, but he supposed it couldn’t be helped. Adrien or Chat Noir, it looked like he was just meant to be alone.

He swung out of the skylight with a huff, landing on his feet with a flourish. And that’s when he spotted it - a black cat, crudely cut out of hard paper, sticking noticeably out of the biggest flowerpot.

Chat tiptoed over, almost warily, and gingerly took the note in his clawed hand.

_ Hi Chat, _

_ I am going to be gone for some time - long story, but I’ll be staying with my friend Alya. Feel free to swing by if you feel like having a chat :3 _

He felt both delighted and offended at that horrendous pun. Warmth spread through him then when he realized Marinette had thought of him. Considered him important enough to leave a note. To leave an extended hand for him to grab, metaphorically speaking. 

He stood still for a minute, considering. Alya was insanely intense about all things Ladybug, but he really wanted to see Marinette...

With a grin, he made a decision. After all, what kind of knight would he be to leave his Princess alone just because of a little risk.

Jumping from roof to roof, he tried to recall Alya’s address from after the Sapotis fight. After a couple of wrong turns he stood on a rooftop opposite what he was pretty sure was Alya’s apartment block. Most windows were closed and lit up, showing kids watching TV, families having dinners, students working on some last minute assignments... But then his gaze caught on a dark window. It was strange because even though the room behind it was dark, the window had just started to open.

Why would someone be there in the dark?

He narrowed his eyes, trying to focus the night vision Chat Noir’s powers brought. A wide, toothy grin split his face. He’d know those pigtails anywhere!

He extended his baton and with a swift jump he dropped down smoothly onto the wide window sill. The shriek that tore out of Marinette’s mouth was music to his ears.

“Hello there Princess.” he purred.

“AAGH!! CHAT I swear-” She froze, mid yell, ducking back into the room, swiftly drawing the curtains closed.

Chat blinked in surprise for two seconds before he heard the door of the room slam open. The light flickered on, and he quickly flattened himself to the wall and listened.

“Marinette, are you okay? What happened?!” 

_ Alya! That was close. _ Chat thought and promptly froze in surprise when excited barking picked up from the inside as Marinette tried to reassure her best friend.

“It’s nothing, really! I thought I felt spider crawling up my hand, but it turned out to just be a piece of my hair.”

Chat grinned at the excuse.

“A spider?” Alya questioned with a slightly horrified tone.

“Yup. A nasty, huge, black one.” Marinette muttered, and Chat had to stifle a laugh.

“Well, I fed Sunshine for you, so now you can keep him around to guard you from any more spider attacks.” Alya exclaimed enthusiastically and after some more quick chatter she left Marinette alone, claiming she had to help putting the twins to bed. The light went off again and he settled more comfortably on the window sill now that the danger has passed. Soon he heard shuffling and the curtains opened again.

He grinned at the grumpy-looking Marinette.

“So I am a spider now, is that right?”

Marinette frowned at him as she responded, “Don’t forget the ‘nasty, huge, and black’ part.” She huffed, but he could see the grin tugging at her mouth.

They were both startled by an indignant little bark from in between them. To his surprise, Marinette laughed.

“Come on in, Chaton, I have to introduce you to someone special.”

Only when he was fully inside could he finally see the reason for all the little barks and huffs he’d heard before. Right beside Marinette, all straightened up and important looking, stood a giant, fluffy golden retriever.

“Chat,” Mari said all official, “meet Sunshine.”

He wasn’t sure what he should do, he never had a pet - the closest he came to one was Plagg, and a sentient god of misfortune somehow didn’t seem like a good basis for handling animals. He stepped forward carefully, unsure of what to do. This, however, seemed enough of an encouragement for the dog to shoot forward, jumping up at Chat Noir and knocking him flat onto the ground.

“Ooof!” Chat flailed weekly as the dog shimmied with enthusiasm, licking and slobbering all over his face.

Very, very carefully he brought up his clawed hands and buried them into fluffy fur on Sunshine’s neck.

“Good boy?”

Marinette was stifling an uproarious laughter into her pillow, and he was completely lost.

“Sunshine,” she hissed finally, “you know you are not supposed to do that!”

The dog made a sad little sound, but he instantly climbed down from the boy and settled at Marinette’s feet.

Chat sat up, totally dazed. His hair stuck up in strange places, and he absentmindedly wiped at his face where the dog had licked him. The cuddle-attack was completely gross and a little painful, but for some reason he couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped him.

Sunshine perked up, tail wagging excitedly.

Experimentally, Chat patted the floor in between his feet and the dog whined and looked at Marinette.

“Oh, okay, go on then. But no jumping,” she said and Sunshine all but barreled into Chat, wiggling his fluffy butt and asking for scratches.

Comfortable silence settled over the room.

“So, this is what you abandoned me for,” Chat said at long last, with an exaggerated sigh, “I must say I don't blame you. He is very cute.” 

“Yup, the cutest,” Mari cooed, and Sunshine shot back to her, excited to receive so much attention.

“Why are you staying with Alya, though?”

Marinette expression fell a little, but when she replied her voice was all level.

“My parents need some time to get a permit for having a dog at the bakery. And I needed to start practicing with Sunshine so that we can go to school as soon as possible. Alya offered, and so here I am.”

Chat hummed, thinking.

“And are you okay with that, Princess?”

Her shoulders sagged and Chat’s heart dropped straight into his stomach.

“Princess?” He repeated slowly, standing up and walking over to her side.

She breathed in sharply, tugging at the bandages around her eyes.

“Honestly?” she finally spoke and her voice shook, “I am so tired of all of this. I feel angry and ill and useless  _ all the time _ and I..”

She sobbed and slammed her hands on her knees, fists clenched.

“I am sorry, you have your own problems to deal with, you don’t need to listen to my pity party.”

Chat frozen, not knowing what to say. He wanted to reassure her, to make her look something else than miserable and broken, he wanted —

Before he could overthink it, he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head while stroking soothing circles onto her back.

He was surprised by the  _strength_ of emotions that started whirling within him as he held Marinette in his arms, but decided not to dwell on it just then. Chat just held her tight, whispered soothing words into her hair, and let her hold onto him.

She cried her bitter tears into his chest, and he clutched her like she was the lifeline he needed until they both fell into shallow, fitful sleep.

 

Adrien woke up to his phone buzzing insistently. He raked a hand through his messy hair and pawed at the mattress to stop the annoying sound, when... Shit! Sound of fabric tearing as his claws tangled into a worn cotton bedsheet that  _ definitely _ wasn’t his own made him snap wide awake. _He was still transformed?_

The awareness came in waves. His left side was completely asleep and heavy. This seemed weird up until the moment the events of last night came crashing back to him. Marinette. His cheeks warmed at the sight of her, soft and relaxed in her sleep, black hair a mess, pink lips slightly parted. They had fallen asleep together. He blushed violently.  _Oh god._

Chat gently untangled himself from the sleeping girl and killed the alarm. Then, silently as not to rouse anyone, he tiptoed to the window and swung out. 

Even as he released his transformation back in his own room, Adrien could still feel his face burning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat is a beautiful, soft, oblivious bean, and I will protect him ~~ish~~
> 
> In the next chapter there will be *squints into the distance* some actual plot, girls having some important talks, Marinette dealing with her injuries, oh, and some bread dough!   
> ~stay tuned, and please tell me what you think! Not only I thrive solely off attention ~~and chocolate~~ but I also love all your feedback, it keeps me motivated to write on  <3
> 
> Oh, also, I wrote a couple of short drabbles about past LB miraculous holders, should I put them up on here? Tell me what you think :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is some actual plot, girls having important talks, Marinette dealing with her injuries, oh, and some bread dough!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me thanks go to Belle, who is a gem, the voice of reason and grammar in my dark, chaos-filled world <3 And of course, many thanks to all of you, who comment, like, and subscribe, the notifications keep me going ^v^
> 
> Also, unrelated to ILBB, I wrote a couple of short drabbles about past LB miraculous holders, should I put them up on here? Tell me what you think :)

 

Mari didn’t really think about her injury much, to be honest. Yes, the pain was annoying and persistent, but she found she was quite busy - with Ella, Etta, and Sunshine around to make noise and mischief constantly, she only had so much space to brood.

That changed, however, when Friday rolled around, though, and her hospital check-up with it.

When she came back to Alya’s in the evening, sans the bulky bandage but hands firmly glued across her face to cover the most of it, the Césaires all knew something was wrong.

Alya let Sunshine out of his harness, then helped Marinette to the couch while Marlena walked into the kitchen, presumably to give the girls some space. Even the rowdy twins somehow gathered this was serious and went across the livingroom to play with Sunshine quietly on their own.

“Come on girlie, talk to me. And get those hands away from your pretty face. I am sure you look just fine, no matter what happened.”

Mari lowered her hands shakily and Alya tried her best to contain her horror. There was a deep red burn covering Marinette’s eyes. It was huge, blistered, and angry looking — like a grotesque mask, it started just below her eyebrows and ended high on her cheeks, with four dark welts running diagonally across it. For a second Alya thought it was claw marks, but then she shooed the ridiculous idea away. It must have just been where the chemical first made contact, or where Mari tried to wipe at it when it started burning her. That’s right. She focused on the wound again, at the jagged outline made in darkened, crumbling scabs. It all looked incredibly sore and Alya wanted nothing more but to grab her friend and hug her until all this horror somehow magically disappeared. 

“You don’t have to lie to me, Alya,” Marinette snapped harshly, startling her friend “the doctor actually gasped when he took the bandage off. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.”

Alya gulped, her expression stuck somewhere between ashamed and defiant.

“Well, okay, yes, the wound looks - well, it looks painful. But nothing a little makeup won’t help. In fact, I am sure that with time it won’t look noticeable at all.”

Marinette huffed, but her friend just plowed on. “Besides, that doctor must be a total di—”

“Alya!” Marlena Césaire hit her daughter over the head with an expertly thrown roll of kitchen towels. Alya winced, suddenly remembering they were in the living room with everyone.

“Sorry maman,” she whined, eyeing ~~the little monsters~~ her sisters warily.

She turned back to Marinette, who was now once again covering her face with her hands stubbornly.

“I don’t want to go outside like this. I especially don’t want to go to school like this. Alya, just think about all the staring. Adrien. Oh god! And  _ Chloé _ ...I don’t want people to see me. I just don’t.”

Alya looked at her friend sadly. Her loyal, brave, beautiful Marinette. Her best friend. She didn’t deserve any of this. But how could she help when nothing she’d say made Mari see reason?

Unwillingly, and very, very deep down she knew Marinette was right in some respect. People  _ would _ stare. Humans were nasty that way. And Chloé. Well. She could be dealt with. Still, Alya was sure the blonde witch wouldn’t hesitate to say something cruel.

She looked desperately at her mom for help. Marlena stood at the kitchen counter, hand on hip, with a stormy expression on her face.

“Come on in here, girls!” she declared suddenly, calling them insistently into the kitchen.

“All that moaning and groaning and arguing helps no one. And I just happen to know the fire-sure remedy to ease your troubles.”

Marinette dropped the hands from her face just so her doubtful expression would be visible.

But Marlena just grabbed her hands gently a set them onto the counter. She flexed her fingers experimentally when she felt the familiar texture of a wooden cutting board beneath her palms. Alya grumbled right next to her, but knew better then to try and run away from her own mom on a mission.

Mari gasped when Marlena scooped something large onto the board right in between her hands. The smell was  _ familiar _ . She moved her hands hesitantly until she knocked into the weird, sticky heap.

_ Of course. _

“Bread dough, mom, really? Marinette just left the bakery, you know?”

Marinette smiled despite herself.  _ Of fucking course. _ This was her dad’s favorite trick too, after all.  _ Get yourself a good dough and knead the problems away. _

Mari sighed.

She might as well. And maybe, just maybe, she would at least be too tired to dream after all this.

_ She should have known better. _

 

Marinette lay in her bed, eyes wide open. The darkness was stifling, she felt as if it grew behind her eyelids, grew denser every single minute.

“Tikki?” she whispered. “Tikki are you awake?”

A familiar whooshing noise and a soft weight settled on her chest. For an instant, she felt the darkness lift as the warmth of her kwami spread around.

_ ‘Marinette? What’s wrong?’ _

Mari huffed, frowning settling on her face. She slowly sat up, cradling her kwami in her palms.

“I just. I can’t sleep Tikki. I can’t stop seeing things and imagining, and... I guess I am just working myself up over nothing.”

She hung her head in shame. Her kwami had lived through millenia with dozens of different ladybugs — true heroines. Princesses, voyagers, warriors. Marinette felt stupid, making her listen to her insignificant worries and blabber.

Then, Tikki’s warm hand brushed hair aside from her forehead, placing a gentle kiss there before fluttering away.

_ ‘Don’t be so hard on yourself, Marinette. You have gone through a lot of difficulties, and you are being so brave. I’m very proud of you.’ _

“I wish I could see the scar.” Marinette spoke up finally. “I know it’s stupid, but I think I am just working myself into a knot and —”

‘ _ We could try, if you really want to?’  _ Tikki interrupted her.

“What? What do you mean?”

The kwami sounded a bit skittish, but Mari pressed on.

“What do you mean, Tikki?”

‘ _ Well, your transformation is an extension of our bond — you are in control of it. If you really focus, you should be able to take your mask off. And, as Ladybug, you would be able to see.’ _

Ah.

Marinette gulped.

She clenched her hands in her duvet and whispered: “Tikki, spots on!”

Pink light filled the room, and Mari opened her eyes again. Joy fluttered through her even at the completely ordinary sight in front of her. She smiled when she spotted Sunshine - without his harness he was off duty, snoring away, unaware, in his dog bed. 

“Oh, look at him, he is the most adorable dog ever,” she whispered to herself in a vain attempt to distract herself.

Then her eyes fell on the mirror that hung over the dresser on the opposite side of the room, and she sighed. She made sure the curtains were closed before flicking her bedside lamp on.

The room was suddenly bathed in soft, orange light. Marinette saw her own, worried expression reflect in the mirror. She came closer and gasped when she realized her eyes looked different. It wasn’t very noticeable from the distance, but when she came face to face with her reflection, she knew what was wrong. She had tikki’s dark blue irises instead of her own. She supposed it made sense, since her own eyes were beyond repair.

She remembered Tikki’s instructions then, and tried to focus. Breathing in, she lifted her hand up to her face, and focused on the mask.

With a gasp, she felt the fabric give way and disappear as she pulled it away from her face. Unlike when Lady WiFi had tried to do so, against her will, Marinette was able to control her transformation. It was a giddy wonderful feeling.  _ What else could I do with the suit? Maybe make it grow wings? That’d be amazing! _

Her happy thoughts froze the moment she dropped her hand and saw herself in the mirror.

She gasped.

Alya was right. It did look very painful. But the aesthetics of her injury were the least of her worries. No. She realized with dread, that the four thin lines across her eyes were clear marks of Chat Noir’s claws. His cataclysm. Plain as day.

Marinette forcefully shut her eyes, digging the heels of her palms into her eyes.

This was  _ not _ good. Chat could not find out about what happened.

And he  _ would _ find out if he saw her.

She gulped and whispered: “Spots off.”

Tikki separated from her in an excited flutter.

‘ _ Marinette, you did it! And on first try — that’s amazing!’ _

Then the kwami must have noticed her expression.

_ ‘Marinette? What’s wrong?’ _

“The wound Tikki, it’s—”

_ ‘It really isn’t so bad. You are still very pretty. And amazing, and kind! If anyone doesn’t see that, well, then they are stu—’ _

“That’s not it!” Marinette snapped harshly and Tikki flinched.

“Look at my face. Look at the marks, Tikki. I can make up excuses till I turn purple, but tell me, do you think Chat won’t take one look at me and  _ know _ ?”

Marinette could hear the small gasp.

“Exactly.”

‘ _ Marinette... You know it wasn’t his fault.’ _

“Of course I know that! Don’t you even think that I am mad at him — it was all Hawkmoth, I know that! But Chat — he will blame himself. I know he will be devastated. And he will also find out that  _ I _ am Ladybug.” Marinette hiccuped, tears spilling from her eyes.

Tikki tried to soothe her, but she was inconsolable.

“He can’t know. Oh, Tikki, no one can find out that some plain, blind girl is the Ladybug.”

Suddenly, something large, warm and fuzzy pressed to her side.

With a low whine, Sunshine curled himself around Marinette and licked at her bare feet.

“Oh, puppy,” Marinette said with a sad smile.

She sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around her furry friend.

“What will we do, Tikki?”

The kwami stayed silent for a while. She wanted to scold Marinette for talking so badly, thinking so badly of herself, but Tikki knew now was not the time.

She flew towards her girl and settled softly on her shoulder, wrapping her small arms around Mari as much as she could.

‘ _ Don’t worry Marinette. We’ll figure it out together.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Seriously guys, did anyone get the title reference or am I the only dumb Shakespeare stan on here?~~
> 
>  
> 
> Well, this chapter was a bit .. heavier. Let me know what you think.  
> Next we'll have yet more angst, and some action with a brand new akuma, courtesy of your friendly local feminist - stay tuned.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is yet more angst and some action with a brand new akuma, ~~courtesy of your friendly local feminist~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hit a bit of a writer's block lately, but your comments really keep me going <3
> 
> Shout out, as always, to my awesome beta Bell, and to all the lovely peeps who commented, especially [@justsomebread](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justsomebread/pseuds/justsomebread) and [@Armin_too_deep](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Armin_too_deep/pseuds/Armin_too_deep) for their suggestions and info about guide dogs and people with vision problems!

 

 

Marinette was dreaming.

She knew this, for a fact. You see, the thing was that she _could see_.

She was sat on a bench in the park beside her parents’ bakery, watching the leaves rustle in the soft wind. It was peaceful. The sun was shining pleasantly, the greenery hummed gently, some children were playing in the playground nearby. _It was a beautiful scene,_ Marinette thought to herself, _even if it were just a dream_.

But in a blink of an eye, everything went wrong.

Swirly, violent shapes erupted all around the park, reminiscent vaguely of Dr. Mind Control’s suit. Marinette tried to scream, to run, but she couldn’t. It was that horrible feeling you get in a dream every once in a while, when all you want to do is run, but you just can’t. Marinette gasped in pain as lightning flashed through her vision. Poison green it shot right into her eyes and the previous calm scene was gone. Instead of it, everything was pitch, tar black.

Suddenly, there was a clawed hand clenched around her throat, holding her up painfully. Her vision begun to blur. From the darkness, a pair of blood red eyes of Chat Noir stared at her viciously. He growled and tightened the grip on her and she could feel her stomach turn.

‘ _Marinette!’_

Wait. That voice didn’t belong here.

What was–

‘ _Marinette, please! Wake up!’_

Her eyes shot open.

The blackness was still there but it wasn’t so stifling anymore. There were no crimson eyes, no claws choking her. She was awake. Safe.

‘ _Marinette, oh you scared me!_ ’ Tikki fluttered around, patting Marinette’s hair and cheeks and shoulders, as if making sure that she was okay.

“I am fine Tikki, it’s okay. It was just a dream.”

But it seemed she spoke too soon.

Just like in her dream, her stomach suddenly turned and she felt bile rise up to her mouth.

“Sunshine?” she gasped in fear as she kicked off her covers and stood up abruptly. Her guide dog must have heard the panic in her voice, for he was beside her in an instance. She put his harness on with shaking hands, swallowing heavily.

“Bathroom, Sunshine.” She commanded weakly.

The Césaire residence was silent still, as Marinette retched into the toilet. She felt a bit guilty to feel glad for this. She had just been violently ill all over the clean smelling bathroom, but the last thing she wanted was more fuss. Sunshine was the only witness to her troubles, sitting patiently next to the basin where she left him.

After what felt like hours Mari finally picked herself of the tiled ground. Almost on autopilot she cleaned around the toilet as best as she could without seeing, sprayed some air freshener around and turned on memory back towards the wash basin. 

She clutched the edges of it with shaky hands. This wasn’t good. Sunshine whined softly, as if trying to ask if she was okay. Marinette quickly rinsed her mouth off the disgusting acrid taste and splashed some water onto her face. Then she bent down and patted Sunshine on his large fluffy head.

“You’re such a good boy,” she crooned softly as he lead her back into the room.

 

Marinette managed to avoid breakfast by pretending to be asleep. Luckily, it was the day the twins' kindergarten class was holding a performance for the parents. With all the hassle of getting ready for a rehearsal, the Césaire family has left their home - and Marinette - without taking any notice. 

To Mari’s disdain, however, Tikki was much more difficult to manage.

_‘This isn’t good, Marinette! You should go to the doctor’s. Or at least talk to Alya, please!’_

Mari just huffed in place of a reply.

“Tikki I don’t want to talk to anyone. You and I both know that doctors won’t help me - I doubt anyone at the hospital knows a thing about magical injuries. And besides, I don’t want to worry my parents, or Alya.”

The small kwami almost looked like she was going to argue more, but she was interrupted by loud barking.

Sunshine, who had been peacefully asleep just seconds ago, was barking at the window, hackles raised.

“What’s wrong?” Marinette asked, but somehow, she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

_‘Akuma!’_

She jumped up, yelling: “Spots on!” And with a quick soothing murmur to the very confused dog, she leapt out of the window. She breathed in deeply. Not even the scared yells of the civilians running through the streets below spoiled Marinette’s unbridled joy at being Ladybug. She felt so light. So free. She had her sight back and she sped along the sloping rooftops with a goofy grin on her face.

Then she saw the source of the commotion - a boy dressed in a ridiculous, violently pink outfit of fluffy tutu combined with a superhero cape.

She sighed, the akuma was another kid. She didn’t like fighting children - one, it left her with a bad taste in her mouth, and two, they were always dangerously unpredictable. This akuma, though, didn’t seem too bad.

Scanning the street around it, she noticed all the fleeing people were being turned into weirdly costumed mannequins, all the while the akuma squealed in open glee.

“I am the Gender Norman, and I will show everyone– ”

What exactly he was gonna show everyone, Marinette would probably never learn, for just then, the akuma got jumped by a black blur.

Chat Noir toppled the boy to the ground and they both rolled down the street for a split second, before the boy somehow shook him off. Chat jumped back just in time to avoid a colorful beam the boy shot out from what looked like an evil ballerina barbie doll.

The beam that missed Chat hit a man fleeing down the street, changing his clothes into bright pink leotard, complete with pointe shoes and glittery pink fairy wings.

Chat raised his eyebrow, turning around and finally seeing Ladybug on the rooftop above.

“Well, My Lady, I hope we can dance our way out of this,” he grinned at her.

Marinette suppressed a groan. However the eyeroll, not entirely hidden by the mask of Ladybug, was so automatic she couldn’t stop it.

“I just bet the Akuma is in his Barbie doll,” she said instead of commenting on his horrible humor. She pointed to the doll clutched securely in little boy’s arms and Chat nodded.

“Well _spotted_ Bugaboo.” he grinned.

“Focus!” Mari chided, half-heartedly, as they jumped apart to avoid another rainbow colored beam.

She called her lucky charm and got a large red-and-black pulley wheel for her trouble. Looking around, she noticed an intricate web of cables connected to a TV aerial, and an idea struck her.

“Hey, Chaton, you think you could help a bug out?” she grinned at her partner, pointing at the large aerial above their heads, and making a clawing motion.

Chat matched her grin with his own as he grinned widely and jumped up to the aerial.

“Cataclysm!” he yelled, just as Ladybug had to dodge another attack, of the angering Akuma.

She heard a shocked gasp from behind and turned with horror.

Marinette thought for sure Chat got turned into one of the weird statues, but he stood next to the aerial still clad in his usual black catsuit. However, the aerial stood there too, undamaged, and Chat’s claws were laid on it harmlessly.

The cataclysm didn’t work.

To his credit, he shook off his surprise quickly, and clawed the metal into shreds the usual way. Soon enough the big metal construction was falling. As it fell down it tangled into the web of cables and stretched them, creating an ideal zip line for Ladybug to use.

She didn’t hesitate, jumped down it using her spotted pulley wheel, and kicked the evil barbie right out of the shocked akuma’s hands.

Stomping on it heavily, the crushed plastic released a dark blue butterfly.

“Enough evil-doing for you, little akuma,” she smiled with satisfaction as she caught it in her yo-yo, releasing a purified white butterfly.

“Bye-bye little one,” she whispered to it softly as it flew away.

Chat landed next to her just as the akuma transformed back, leaving a confused little boy on the pavement in front of them.

“La-Ladybug?!”

“That’s right little man, do you remember what happened?”

He looked down, fresh tears welling in his eyes. He hiccuped, looking down.

“Oh, no, don’t cry, it’s okay,” Ladybug tried to reassure him, “just tell us what happened.”

“The kids in my class told me that I cannot be a hero and play with dolls at the same time. And that boys can’t dance ballet in out class recital.” he looked at her with teary eyes.

“But I like dolls, and dancing,” he said angrily.

Ladybug patted him on the head.

“Well, you tell them that Ladybug is a hero and plays with dolls,” she said decisively, “and boys can do whatever they like - especially dancing.”

He gave her a small smile and she gave him big thumbs up as her earrings beeped.

“Will you be able to get back to your kindergarten?”

He nodded, squaring his little shoulders.

“I am a big guy Ladybug!” he declared proudly, “and it’s right behind the corner.”

“Good then, go show those bullies what real boys are all about.” He gave her a toothy grin and twirled his tutu before running off.

Marinette smiled, then remembered there was one more thing left to do. She threw the lucky charm up in the air and shouted:

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

The swarm of ladybugs appeared, as usual, but an uneasy feeling settled around her stomach. Something wasn't right.

The shimmering red cloud transformed all the victims back into people, but just then, before it could fix any of the damages or injuries, it just sputtered out. Gone.

Marinette pursed her lips, unsure what to do. Ah Tikki, what have I done? But she didn't have time to panic. Her earrings gave another insistent beep and with a hasty “Bug out!” she left Chat Noir, who looked right shaken up, behind.

 

Marinette made it back to Alya’s just in time, her transformation releasing in a sparkle of pink and a fresh wave of nausea hit her. She groaned. Some discomfort, Mari reasoned with herself, was a small price to pay for freedom. She reached into her bedside table for her emergency cookie stash and opened them up on the bed so that Tikki could help herself.

She didn't realize, couldn't see, that something was wrong, until she heard a small groan.

“Tikki?” her voice shook as she frantically felt around for her kwami.

“Tikki what's happening?”

With another gasp of pain the small ladybug kwami climbed into Marinette's outstretched hand. It sounded like even this small movement cost her a great deal of effort and Mari was starting to worry.

Then, at last, Tikki spoke up - unknowingly mirroring the exact word Plagg was speaking to Adrien in that very same moment:

“ _Something isn't right._ ”

But before they could talk any further, the door clicked and Alya came into the flat, yelling Marinette’s name frantically.

“Tikki, hide, quick,” Mari hissed as she stood up, yelling: “Here Alya!”

The door slammed open just seconds later, and Marinette really hoped her kwami was fast enough in hiding. In an instant, warm solid weight tackled her into a strangling hug.

“Oh Mari, there was an akuma attack and we left you here alone, and I was SO WORRIED!”

Marinette made a face as she untangled herself from her friend.

“Alya.” She said flatly.

“You were still asleep when we were leaving, and mom didn’t want to wake you up, but I kept thinking, what if something happened and–”

“Alya!” Marinette said, louder, and her best friend finally stopped her rant.

“I'm sorry, I'm doing it again, aren’t I?” Mari could hear the sound of Alya’s hands cupping her own face and a groan of frustration.

“Seriously, Alya. I'm fine. You can see that I'm fine, right? I know you worry, I worry about you too, but you can’t work yourself up like this every time.” Marinette said as she patted the general direction of Alya’s back. Then she added, more seriously:

“I'm blind now. Okay? But I am _not_ helpless. I need you to get that, I really do, Alya. How can I get others to take me seriously and treat me like a regular person, if my own best friend cannot manage?”

Alya sighed again and Mari had a sinking feeling her friend was crying again.

“I'm sorry girl, I really am,” Alya said solemnly and Marinette suddenly felt a bit bad about being so harsh with her. They were all getting used to this.

She hugged Alya and was about to say something more, when Sunshine decided they both needed cheering up – it really was impossible to stay sad when an overgrown puppy decided to climb all over you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming next we have: Adrien Angst-reste, Marinette struggling to accept help, oh, and some more Marichat ~~surprise, surprise~~
> 
> Stay tuned, oh, and do tell me how you found the new chapter/the story so far.  
>  ~~I'm a shameless attention whore and comments keep me alive~~


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there's some Adrien Angst-reste™, Marinette struggling to accept help, oh, and some more Marichat ~~surprise, surprise~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you left comments on my previous chapters, gave kudos or bookmarked, you have my undying affection <3 (Seriously though, y'all's comments made me feel super happy ^v^)
> 
> Big thanks, as usual, go to my awesome beta Bell. Many thanks also to BlueBloodstains, for their supper helpful comment/critique, to renni-jay cause I am always happy to rant about Chloe, to Sappy who made me squee in joy, and to the wonderful CompilerCat who has my back and comments on every chapter and makes me super happy <3

 

**_“The cataclysm didn’t work, Plagg!”_** Adrien said as he de-transformed, shaken, in his bed.

His kwami collapsed on the bed next to him, uncharacteristically quiet.

“What do we do now?”

After a beat of heavy silence, Plagg replied:

‘ _ We’ll have to wait and see.’ _

 

The next day didn’t improve the things any. But Mondays hardly ever did, so Adrien tried not to be too disappointed. He dragged the spoon listlessly through his morning oatmeal as he watched the cloudy sky outside the window. His stomach didn’t rumble anymore, instead, after another talk about the fashion week with father, it just twisted unpleasantly. As if Gabriel’s sneering expression had been burned into the back of his eyelids.

_ “Look at that, Adrien. That is not fashion, it’s an embarrassment.” Discarded, as if it was contaminated by something incredibly filthy, laid a fashion spread featuring muscular men in weirdly cut workout suits. _

_ Yeah, Adrien thought, the clothes were objectively horrible, but there was nothing wrong with the models! Few were built a bit larger than most in the industry, but lot of them looked a lot like, well, a lot like Adrien. Especially with all the extra work-out that came with being a part time superhero... _

He wasn’t sure what his father wanted from him, but he had a grim feeling it wasn’t what Adrien Agreste  _ was _ , right now. Or what he could ever become, for that matter...

He felt so tired, of all the expectations and rules and disappointed looks. He just wanted his father, his  _ dad _ to see him as a kid - for just once in his life. To show him affection without having to do something incredible to earn it first.

Was that so much to ask? Just to be liked for what he was, if only once?

He left the bowl, half eaten, behind.

 

Adrien came to school early, for once. He had no unfinished homework, no projects to do, and since Chloe nor Nino were around, he rested his head on his folded hands and decided to take some well earned nap, when-

“Make way, make way!” Nino’s voice yelled from the corridor. “A battle-tried hero coming through!”

“Nino, you moron, stop it. You’ll get us in trouble with all that noise.”

Adrien perked up at the familiar laugh that followed. He knew that voice! Could it be?

“Aww come on, dudettes! Don’t take all the fun out of it.” His best friend appeared in the classroom door, holding it open with a flourish.

And then, there was Marinette.

Adrien’s breath caught in his throat when he saw the huge, ladybug-patterned glasses that covered her eyes, the edges of painful looking burns just visible underneath. She looked thinner and smaller, somehow, now that she stood in plain daylight and not in the dim room of Alya’s apartment. But then he noticed the big smile on her face, and nothing more mattered.

After a beat of silence, everyone flocked to her, cooing over Sunshine, asking how she was feeling, chattering happily. Adrien wanted to join, but guilt settled heavily in his stomach. Marinette had been hurt in an akuma attack. The one where he was turned into a mindless slave and instead of protecting Paris, he helped the evil that sought to destroy her.

He was the one to blame for Marinette’s injuries. It was his claws that opened the canisters full of chemicals that caused those burns. His inability, his...

“Adrien?” It took him a while to recognize the voice, for it rarely spoke so softly, or so quietly.

“Chlo?” He looked up to see his oldest friend fake an unconcerned look.

“Not that I care,” she spoke flippantly, “but you should probably go over and say hi to that fashion disaster over there.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah. And what about you? Not gonna tell anyone about the strings you pulled to get her back?”

Chloe narrowed her eyes at him.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Adrikins.”

With a swish of blonde hair his only distraction had gone. He really should go and greet Mari - she was his friend after all! And his guilt had no place hurting her feelings.

The crowd had dissolved somewhat, especially after Alya shooed off anyone trying to pet Sunshine: “He’s on duty, guys, remember!”

But Adrien still approached carefully. His eyes widened though, when Sunshine spotted him and wagged his tail in recognition. Shit. He could probably recognize his smell, even out of the suit!

_ Lucky that animals can’t talk, Agreste, otherwise you’d be busted.  _ His inside voice was starting to sound worryingly like Plagg.

“What is it, Sunshine?” asked Marinette softly, tearing Adrien out of his reverie, and interrupting Nino and Alya in whatever little squabble they were just having. All three of them turned in Adrien’s direction.

“H-Hey Mari, it’s good to have you back,” he only blushed a little. Gods, the years of homeschooling really didn’t do his awkwardness any favors. He wished for his black superhero suit just then, and for how easy talking to the girl in front of him would be as his alter ego.

“Well look who finally woke up,” Alya gave him a pointed glare, as Marinette stammered a response.

“Give my man a break, Al, you know his father works him to death. You’d be catching zzz’s all over the place too, if you had that kind of schedule.”

Adrien smiled sadly, his eyes falling back to Marinette. She really did look smaller - thinner, maybe. He noticed the hand holding Sunshine’s harness was skinny and frail looking.  _ Was she not eating well? _

He never noticed as Chat, but maybe he should bring it up with Alya...

So deep in thought he was he completely missed her moving until she was right beside him.

“Sorry, do you mind if I take your seat for now? I'm not very good with stairs just yet and front row will be easier.”

“Yeah, sure.” he responded, picking his things up and settling next to a mystified Alya.

 

He felt a bit awkward approaching Marinette, knowing she didn’t much like him. But Alya and Nino disappeared off somewhere and he couldn’t just let her wander around on her own. She made it to the lunchroom okay, but she was sitting alone, aside from everyone, and really - what if something happened?

“Uhm, hi Marinette, do you need a hand with anything?”

She lifted her head up in the direction of his voice. The expression on her face, although not fully visible under the big bug-eye sunglasses, was strangely angry.

“Not really.” She closed her lunchbox with a clang.

“Is this seat free,” he asked more awkwardly still and she lifted an eyebrow at him.

“You tell me, Adrien.”

He could have smacked himself. She wouldn’t see where he was pointing, nor, for that matter, if there was anyone else occupying said space.

“I am just kidding,” she took mercy on him, at last, “sit where you like. Just be careful about my dog, please. I had to move away from my usual table because people kept stepping on him by accident.”

She sounded a bit forlorn, and Adrien could see why. All the extra attention could really get to a person.

“Uhm, so, how are things?” he started in a feeble attempt to keep the conversation going.

Marinette’s eyebrows went up again and Adrien really wished someone would just come along and deliver him from his misery.  _ Honestly Agreste? How are things? Well let’s see, she just got blinded by an akuma and has to deal with your insensitive ass right now. _

“No, sorry, ignore that - that’s a stupid question I was just trying-”

“You don’t  _ have to _ be nice to me just because I'm the special needs kid now, Adrien. I appreciate the thought, but I’d rather you didn’t force yourself.”

That must have been the longest sentence she had said to him since the beginning of the school year. His face fell at the bitterness of her tone.

“I-I..” but before he could say something, anything, she stood up tray in tow and left.

He could only watch in horror as she dumped her uneaten lunch and then followed Sunshine back to the classroom.

He banged his head on the horrible plastic table.  _ Great job Adrien. Stellar. Now she hates you even more! _

This just wouldn’t do.

But as the day went on, his increasingly awkward attempts at talking to Marinette ended up only worse and worse - until the point Alya shook her head at him disapprovingly as he approached their desk during science class.

He was hopeless.

 

Adrien transformed as soon as he finally got to his room. He couldn’t concentrate during his fencing practice - all he could think about was that bitter, sad expression Marinette had made. It was so wrong! She was always so-  _ so happy. _ Bright. He had to fix this. And if Adrien wasn’t up to the task, well, Chat Noir would just have to pick up the slack.

Soon he was swinging over the familiar rooftops in Alya’s neighborhood, landing on the wide, sun-warmed windowsill of Marinette’s temporary bedroom.

He froze when he heard her crying.

“It’s useless. He finally decides to talk to me, and for what? Cause I'm the poor little blind girl now? Cause I need help? I wish I could just hate his stupid pretty face.” She sobbed and he paled. He shouldn’t be listening to this, but he couldn’t stop. Who was she talking about?

“I’m sure it’s not like that. He’s not the kind of person-”

“I know, Ali, I know he isn’t doing it on purpose. But he wouldn’t have just come to me like that before, so why now?”

Alya made some more sounds of disagreement, but Mari just blocked her out.

“It’s okay, really. It was a stupid crush anyhow. I can never get myself to speak in front of him - I sound like a stuttering idiot. And I barely know him, borderline stalking aside.”

“You do know his schedule crazy well,” Alya giggled snidely and Marinette let out a short, wet laugh.

“Okay, okay, go get the little terrors from kindergarten. I’ll just turn in early, have some me time, and try to get over this... this mess.”

“If you say so,” Alya sighed, “should I take Sunshine with me for a little walk? You know the twins won’t mind.”

Marinette hummed her assent. 

Alya then said something softly, but too quiet for Chat to hear, and with a bang of a door, she was gone. He waited with bated breath for a moment, but when it seemed like she wasn’t coming back, he softly knocked on the window.

After much rustling, the curtains opened again and a harried looking Marinette appeared behind the window.

“Chat?” she whispered softly.

“The one and only, Purrincess.”

She groaned with exaggeration, but he could see a small smile tugging at her lips. She opened the window wide and stepped aside for him to jump in.

“What are you up to, Alley Cat, shouldn’t you be out on patrol?”

He grinned at the nickname, but immediately noticed her tone lacked the usual spark. Stepping closer to her, and in a spur of a moment decision, he gave her a crushing hug. Marinette went boneless in his arms and the atmosphere in the room suddenly turned heavy.

“I am sorry, I can go if you want, I just... I overheard you talking to Alya and it sounded like maybe you needed a friend?”

Marinette was silent, but he could feel her shoulders shaking with suppressed tears. He brought them down gently to sit on her bed, not letting go so that she ended up sat awkwardly on his lap. He didn’t care, and she didn’t move, so they settled.

“You wanna talk about it?” he tried after a couple of minutes of silence. And Mari shook her head, a small sob escaping her.

He carefully lifted his clawed hand and started moving it along her back in soothing circles.

After a while, she spoke up.

“It’s just so stupid, you know? I want everything to be back to normal, and then I realize that some things, well,” her voice broke, “some things just can’t go back.”

He didn’t quite know what to say, but she continued.

“It was my first day back to school today.”

Chat knew that only too well, but made a humming noise of inquiry nonetheless.

“And I know it shouldn't bother me, but people just treat me different? Like I am some circus attraction, or something. I get everyone just wants to be nice and all, but I don’t want that fake niceness, okay? Maybe that makes me a bitch, I don’t know, but I can’t stand being a charity case, and just-”

“Have you considered people are nice to you because they  _ like _ you? A shocking thought, I know...”

She gave him an unamused expression, but he plowed on, holding on to her, willing her to believe what he was saying.

“You are a great purrson, it’s not that difficult to believe people would like you! You even helped this Alley Cat out in a pickle more than once, fed me those nice pastries, and your mom’s delicious, amazing cooking.”

“Well, it’s good to know  _ you _ don’t care about me just because I'm blind. You’re in for the food.” she grouched, but at least she wasn’t crying anymore.

“Seriously now, Marinette, you are a great person - passionate, brave, smart, a good friend. I am sure all of your classmates are just worried, and, well, maybe they don’t know how best to show it?”

He was  _ definitely not  _ talking about his civilian self, no sir. Not at all.

“I know it’s super silly, I'm just bitter, I guess. I have this guy I’ve liked for ages, and we never really talked much... And now he was all friendly and caring and I just  _ couldn’t _ .”

Adrien was trying to think who in their class could she mean. Maybe it was an upperclassman?

“Well, is he not normally nice, and, uhm, caring?”

For some reason the image of this other, unknown guy hanging all over Marinette made him uneasy.

She shook her head violently.

“No, no, he’s super nice. And kind. And  _ really sweet _ .” She slapped herself. “Ignore me”

He laughed, soft purr letting loose, surprising them both. Then, to his even greater surprise, Marinette pressed her cheek into his chest, hugging him tightly.

“This feels nice, don’t stop.” she hummed and he blushed furiously as the purring got louder.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, yet all too short, when the front door clanked open and excited barking filled the apartment.

“Sunshine!” they both yelped, Marinette shot up and Chat jumped towards the window.

“Alya’s back, you better go.”

He hesitated for a second, then turned back to her, lighting fast, and gave her a soft peck on a cheek in a way of goodbye. With a swish of curtains, he had gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for the love square flipping sides, Marinette just not having a good time and... *squints* probably more angst
> 
> Tell me how you found the chapter, your thoughts and feels and ideas keep me going <3


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the love square is flipping sides, Marinette's just not having a good time and some more angst happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, [Bell](http://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueGryphoness/pseuds/BlueGryphoness) is what keeps me and this fic afloat (and a whole lot more readable)
> 
>  
> 
> Shout out this week to all of you sunshines who left comments, kudos, or subscribed - particularly to [@CompilerCat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CompilerCat/pseuds/CompilerCat) who always makes my day and [@GreekGeek](http://archiveofourown.org/users/GreekGeek/pseuds/GreekGeek) who drew this cute little drawing of ILBB blind!Marinette [link here](https://pre00.deviantart.net/5e6e/th/pre/f/2018/056/c/d/if_love_be_blind_fanart_by_mis_harmony-dc4ar6p.png)  
> Thanks, y'all <3

 

Marinette could feel the blush burn high on her cheeks, but she was _determined_ not to let it get to her. That shameless flirt was the last thing she needed to think about, especially with how torn up she still was about Adrien. her heart gave a painful lurch. Although, thinking about Adrien... The way he suddenly tripped himself up trying to be nice to her. Well. Few weeks ago Marientte would give her left hand for any kind of attention from him. But now, now it just left bad taste in her mouth. Of course, a part of her knew she was being silly, but she just couldn't help it. The butterflies she'd felt anytime Adrien was near were slowly starting to turn to dread. All the while her thoughts kept  _straying_ to a particular black cat.

Chat, who was easygoing, cracking jokes left and right. Chat, who'd been around a lot lately - a great friend and supportive to boot. Chat, who never treated Mari as if she were some helpless broken thing.

She sighed.

_You are forgetting he loves Ladybug. Not you. Neither of them would have chosen you. And why would they?_

Her head fell into her palms as she tried in vain to get herself together. She felt so tired...

 _‘Marinette?’_ Tikki piped up softly from behind her. ‘ _It’s about time to start patrol.’_

 

This time around not even the Ladybug suit could help lift her mood. She was so distracted she almost plowed right into a large chimney - that’d have been embarrassing...

She composed herself and soon she was swinging up to the Eiffel Tower - and her usual meeting spot with Chat Noir. Oh lord. Chat.

This was gonna be fun.

“Hey LB,” he greeted her warmly - but something about his expression seemed... _off._

“Hey Chaton. How’s Paris’ favorite black cat doing?”

He would have normally grinned and preened at that, now it only earned her a small smile.

“Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

Her stomach dropped unpleasantly. Talking rarely spelled anything good.

“You did?”

Chat motioned his head upwards into the steel construction, where they’d be less likely to be overheard. She had to keep herself from fidgeting as they hid among the many interwoven steel beams of the large construction.

“My-ehm, Ladybug,” he was definitely being serious, “do you know what’s wrong with us?”

She gave him a wide eyed look of surprise - not so much at the topic, as at how bluntly he brought it up.

“What- what do you mean?” It was a weak cover and they both knew it.

“I think you know what I mean.” Chat sighed. “My cataclysm wouldn’t work during the last akuma attack. It still doesn’t.” he made a show of summoning it, only to come up empty. She could only stare as his clawed hand touched the metal underneath them, doing no damage whatsoever.

“And your lucky charm isn’t as powerful as it should be, either,” he went on, and her stomach lurched unpleasantly once more.

“Do you know what’s happening?”

She didn’t. She really didn’t. And something must have shown on her face, because Chat breathed in heavily before he continued.

“Yeah. Play it by the ear it is. Just,” he sighed heavily again, “maybe have a talk with your kwami... See if you guys can think of something.”

Marinette nodded, still taken aback. Chat was standing there with a sad expression, not meeting her eye, as if he wanted to say something else, but couldn’t think of how to breach the topic. He looked so stern and serious that her heart gave a painful lurch. _Oh Minou._

At last he glanced up.

“Look, I know how you feel about our secret identities, and I'm not going to push you...”

Marinette could feel a ‘but’ coming and tried to brace herself.

“But with how things have been lately, you getting hurt and - well, I just think it might be a good idea to know who we are under the masks. We need to know if the other one is safe, LB. If you got hurt and I didn’t know-”

Panic so horrible gripped at her insides she couldn’t make a sound. Her face must have done some talking though, for Chat turned away with a scoff.

“You know what, no, nevermind. Forget I said anything.”

“Chat, no, it’s not-”

“Clearly you don’t trust me enough to go through with this. It’s okay, you’re not ready, I shouldn’t have brought it up. I’ll take the south patrol route tonight.”

“ _-it’s not you_.” she said to empty air where her partner had been just seconds ago.

Chat was angry with her. Disappointed. And she really couldn’t blame him. Tears prickled at her eyes as she swung down into the street below. The few civilians, and handful of pigeons, on the streets knew better than to approach her. She looked dejectedly at her reflection in the clear pool at her feet.  
Her superhero identity didn’t seem so super at all - shoulders slumped and expression of defeat, Ladybug really was nothing without her Chat Noir.

Marinette wished she could tell him. She trusted him. She trusted him with her life! She just didn’t trust herself. Before, she had just been worried her civilian identity would _disappoint_ him - now she knew for sure. And it would crush him to know about her injuries, the injuries Hawkmoth had caused, but delivered through Chat Noir’s own claws...

Marinette sobbed freely, shoulders shaking as great big tears streamed down her face and dripped down into the lit up pool. She felt so tired.

“Ladybug?”

She whipped around, not even bothering to wipe the tears away. An old, homeless man stood in front of her, arm extended with a crumpled looking candy bar.

Marinette smiled sadly, trying to refuse the treat, but he was adamant.

“You saved us all so many times, ‘s only fair we give something back.”

 

Another night full of nightmares and twisted green lightning left Marinette dry heaving into the toilet in the early hours of Tuesday morning. She was tired, she felt like shit, and all she wanted was to crawl back to bed - but alas, the compulsory school education had other plans for her.

As much as Mari loved being able to go back to school, she hated mornings with burning passion. She never was a morning person, and surprising exactly no one, being blind did not change this. Even with the head start the horrible early wake up gave her, she barely managed to clean the bathroom in time for the rest of the apartment to wake up.

Having to stumble blindly around in the flat full of people rushing to get ready for school or work didn’t make her mood any better. At least she couldn’t see how horrible she must have looked, hair in disarray, shirt likely inside out, sweater buttoned askew, as Sunshine, Alya and her rushed for the bus. At least the huge glasses would cover up the dark circles as well as her scars...

She settled Sunshine on her side and the dog laid down obediently as she took out the touch-pad that helped her take notes and participate in class. It was connected to the smart board the teachers used to write on, and it dictated everything she couldn’t see into her headphones. This way she could still take part in the class without any trouble. Her pad was also connected to the microphone at the teacher’s desk and it took down notes of all that happened during the class for her to play back at home, whenever she needed to study.

Marinette was grateful and surprised when Alya and Ms. Bustier first showed it to her, before she’d formally started her classes. They accompanied Mari around the school to all the classrooms, together with a technician from the company that donated the new equipment, all the while the cheerful man explained everything to Marinette.

She appreciated all Alya had done for her, she really did. Right now, however, her head felt fuzzy and the headphones sat unpleasantly over her ears. She felt like crying again, strangely detached and angry all at once.

All in all, Mari was just about ready to snap when a small gasp startled her out of her thoughts.

“Oh gosh, _I am so sorry!_ ” the high, fake voice of none other but Chloe Bourgeois cut through her clouded thoughts.

She felt more than heard Sunshine sit up and immediately understood.

“Chloe, if you hurt my dog on purpose one more time I swear I will make you sorry you ever walked your designer shoes anywhere close to me.”

She heard the other girl step back with a gasp. So what, if Marinette’s voice was a low, venomous hiss. Sunshine did not deserve Chloe’s bitchiness. Neither of them did!

“I did so **not** do it on purpose, you psycho! What’s wrong with you?!”

“I might be blind, _Chloe_ , but I’m not stupid. Get the hell away from me and my dog!”

“Whatever,” sneered the blonde and stalked away.

“Marinette? Is everything okay?”

Of course it had to be Adrien. She could not. She just couldn’t right now.

“Yeah, peachy keen. If you could leave me, I have a homework reading to catch up on.” she snapped and sat down a bit more forcefully than she first intended.

She knew she was being mean, but hell if she cared.

“Hey, Mari?” surprisingly, it was Nino from beside her, who softly spoke up.

“What?!” only as she snapped at him, too, did Marinette realize just how horrible she was being.

Chat’s voice came back to her: ‘ _Have you considered people are nice to you because they_ **_like_ ** _you?’_

Marinette deflated.

“I am sorry Nino, I'm just really tired today.” She whispered weakly. Nino patted her back reassuringly.

“It’s not me who you should be apologizing to.” Marinette sank lower into her chair, “And as much as it pains me to say it, my dude, I think that list includes Chloe too. I was looking, she really didn’t do it on purpose.”

 _Oh great,_ Mari thought, _the day she would be apologizing to Chloe Bourgeois._.. Who would have guessed.

 

The classes came and went and soon it was lunch break. Mari gathered her things gloomily and directed Sunshine over to where she knew Chloe would be holding court.

“And what are _you_ doing here? Came to yell at me again?!”

Marinette breathed in deeply.

“No. I came to apologize. I wasn’t feeling well and I took it out on you. I'm sorry, Chloe.”

She could hear an intake of breath, as if Chloe was on a verge of a rant, but Marinette’s apology floored her too much to speak.

“I really am sorry.” Mari said again and turned to leave. A soft hand on her elbow stopped her.

“Not like I care, Dupain-Cheng,” a shrill voice spoke up primly close to her ear, “but Adrien cares about you for some reason, so I might as well help in making you somewhat less repulsive.”

Something round and heavy was pressed into her free hand and Marientte stood there, completely flabbergasted, as Chloe left with Sabrina close on her heels.

Mari pocketed the strange object, resolving to ask someone about it later and turned Sunshine around. She had one more stop in the cafeteria to make, and she’d rather do so before Alya and Nino reappeared from wherever they had vanished to. "Sunshine, find table," she instructed and followed her dog across the room.

“Uh, Adrien?” she spoke up once the dog stopped. She really hoped Adrien would be sat in the usual spot, that it was him and not some random upperclassman - otherwise this might be slightly embarrassing.

“Ma-Marinette?” and a small part of her brain just had to wonder - wasn’t this an interesting turn of events, Adrien Agreste, stuttering while she was speaking clearly for once. Mari could have smacked herself.

“I just,” she breathed in and out, fist clenching at her side, “I just wanted to say I am sorry. About this morning, and yesterday. I snapped at you and you were only trying to be nice.”

Adrien let out something surprisingly close to a yelp.

“No- you, I mean, I, well -”

“Would it be okay if I sat with you?”

He nodded so vigorously she actually heard the motion, then he probably realized he was nodding like an idiot at a blind person and said: “Yeah, sure, of course! Sit, please!”

Marinette couldn’t help the small giggle. Who’d have thought, Nino was actually right all those times. Adrien Agreste was secretly an awkward dork.

She took out some water for Sunshine and let him lay resting next to her.

They all sat in compassionate silence for a second, until Marinette realized Adrien wasn’t eating.

“Uhm, Adrien?” she spoke up carefully.

“Yes?!” he yelped, obviously startled.

“Aren’t you eating anything?”

“Uhm, I... forgot my lunch?” he tried weakly and she narrowed her unseeing eyes.

“Nonsense.” She pulled out the lunch Marlena had packed for her. “Here, have mine.”

_It’s not like she would have eaten it._

“No, no, I couldn’t, it’s yours!” Adrien protested vehemently.

“I don’t really feel like food right now.” _Or at all, lately._

She could almost feel his gaze burning into her.

“You should eat, Marinette. You need to build back your strength!”

Mari grumbled something about not being hungry, but Adrien interrupted her.

“How about a deal then - I’ll take a half of it, if you eat the other half.”

She didn't know how to back out of that. He should be eating, but she really, _really_ didn’t want to... But maybe, half the packed lunch wouldn’t be too bad, right?

 

\---

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering where Nino and Alya went, they are hidden behind a trash can, high-fiving each other as the 'Operation: Get Oblivious Idiots Together' carries on *giggles*
> 
> Anywho, next up will be a chapter with Adrien, where our fave cat boy overhears some _weird shit™_ , there's feelings to be wrestled with, and, oh yes, some more Marichat :D
> 
> Stay tuned and tell me how you found the chapter, your thoughts and feels and ideas keep me going <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where our fave cat boy overhears some weird shit™, there's feelings to be wrestled with, and, oh yes, some more Marichat <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, [Bell](http://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueGryphoness/pseuds/BlueGryphoness) is what keeps me and this fic alive *sings praises*   
> Also, I absolutely love all of you kittens who left comments, kudos, or subscribed - especially [CompilerCat](http://archiveofourown.org/users/CompilerCat/pseuds/CompilerCat) who is a bae, to [S_nake](http://archiveofourown.org/users/S_nake/pseuds/S_nake) for their super on point, super in depth questions and comments, and to [Katz](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Katz4/pseuds/Katz4) who totally left a comment on each chapter and made me squee and giggle like the dork I am ^v^  
> Cheers, y'all <3

 

 

Adrien came back to a silent, empty house.

This wasn’t as surprising as the fact Natalie was nowhere to be seen.  _ Oh well _ , he thought,  _ at least I can get some time to myself. _

Just as he was thinking of stealing some cheese off the fridge and getting Plagg to transform him, a familiar voice carried to him from his father’s office.

“No, of course not. You know I am working on it,” it was... his father? But he was supposed to be in New York!

“Of course there are drawbacks. What did you think? That I could take on the two most powerful-” Adrien’s eyes widened - it  **was** his father, and he had been talking on the phone to someone. Even as quiet as the house was, Adrien’s human ears weren’t enough to pick up the other side of the conversation. Oh how he wished for Chat’s heightened senses just then!

“I am not making excuses. No. I don’t think-”

Adrien had no idea who could his father be talking to. No one, and he meant absolutely  _ no one _ , was allowed to interrupt Gabriel Agreste. And yet...

“As you wish,  _ master. _ ” Adrien’s eyes were surely wide as saucers at this point. He wanted nothing better than to storm into his father’s office and demand answers. But a cold feeling around his stomach stopped him.  _ This was not good. _ He stepped back from the door slowly, soundlessly, backing away until he was in another hallway. There he broke into a run.

 

“So, what do you think Plagg?” Adrien demanded, stony faced as he relegated the story to his kwami.

‘ _ I think you should bring me more cheese,’ _ Plagg answered carelessly, stretching across a velvety pillow.

“Plagg, be serious for a second! I need your help with this.”

The kwami glanced at him with narrowed green eyes.

‘ _ I have my suspicions, kid, but I’m pretty sure you ain’t gonna like them. But that’s beside the point, I’m not sure yet, and we have bigger problems than your asshole dad.’ _

“Oi, watch it!” Adrien tried to slap him, but Plagg just sailed away seamlessly.

“What, you moan about him all the time! Am I not allowed?”

“He’s  _ my _ father, it’s different.” Adrien huffed. “I love him, I just get... frustrated sometimes. And I’m a teenager!”

Plagg gave him a look, but said nothing. Instead he grabbed a huge chunk of stinky cheese and stuffed it whole into his mouth, making Adrien cringe.

“Okay, that’s quite enough, you glutton. Claws out!”

 

When he finally got to the meeting point, Chat was surprised to find Ladybug already there. And to his even bigger surprise, she looked, dare he say, winded?

He remembered their last conversation with a pang. She still didn’t trust him, even after everything they went through together.

Then again, remembering all the times the akumas have turned him to their side... Maybe she was right not to trust him. Maybe she would be better of on her own.

“Chat?”

Only then he realized he must have been standing there, staring like a moron.

“Hey, LB. Keeping up with your cardio?” he asked, plastering a wide grin onto his face.

She looked to her feet then back up.

“You could say that. I had some free time so I thought I’d finish patrol early and give you a night off. I’m sure you’ve better things to do than hang around here.”

Normally, he would have said he didn’t. Normally, he would have pestered her for a date, or at least a hangout. Normally, he would have pushed about what exactly made her look like she just beat three akumas all by herself.

But tonight he didn’t.

“Yeah, sure. Same time tomorrow night?” he asked instead.

She gave him an uneasy smile.

“Same time tomorrow.”

She disappeared in between the buildings.

Chat did not have better things to do. He sat on a rooftop close to Place de la Concorde, legs stretched, as he looked into the setting sun. The thoughts that spun around his head got progressively grimmer and grimmer. Ladybug. His long time crush, his idol, his partner, didn’t trust him. She obviously felt bad about it, too, which was even worse. He pushed her, and she had to be nice about turning him down, yet again. He wasn’t even sure what made him bring up their secret identities. Yes, the attacks have worried him, and knowing each other outside the mask  _ would _ help, but... Chat couldn’t help but think if it wasn’t something else. Soft blue hair, not bound by red ribbons, but disheveled, and a pair of huge ridiculous glasses popped into his head. Sound of Marinette’s sobs, then an image of her with her fists balled and chin held high.

And then, with blush spreading across his cheeks, he remembered the kiss he gave her just before that disastrous patrol. It had just been a friendly kiss on the cheek,  _ right? _

Or... Did some part of him push Ladybug to reveal her identity  _ just _ to take his mind off Marinette?

And if yes, what did that mean?

Chat groaned, tail twitching in agitation.

He was  _ in love  _ with Ladybug!

_ Or was he? _

His brain ever so helpfully replayed all the times Ladybug rejected him. All the little moments when she shot him down. Didn’t take him seriously. Seemed unsettled by his jokes, his mannerism.

Then he remembered the day he fell for her. The dazzling image of red spotted suit, her smirk when she figured her first lucky charm out.. They were both so new at all this, and yet she had been so brave, so smart.

But then he also remembered all her words of doubt, all the little snips of how: “No one can be Ladybug all the time.”

Chat’s heart sank a little. 

_ Did I really love Ladybug, or did I just fall for some fantasy I made up in my head?  _ He groaned. This was way too much to be thinking about all at once. What was it about being a teenager that made you feel like you were in a perpetual state of emotional breakdown? Why did everything have to be so complicated, so  _ weird. _

_ And talking about weird _ , Chat thought, frowning deeper still,  _ what the hell was the deal with father? _

He didn’t realize he was moving until he was halfway to Alya’s apartment. He wasn’t sure if seeing Marinette would help or make him even more confused, but, somehow, he didn’t feel like turning around.

He landed softly on the window sill and peered inside. For a moment, Chat thought she wasn’t in, disappointment flooding him unpleasantly, but then he noticed a sleeping figure sprawled across the small desk in the corner.

He smiled.

He pried the window open gently with his claws and jumped in quietly. Sunshine trotted up to him as soon as he was inside, but Chat just petted him gently on his big fluffy head and strode forward to where Marinette was sitting, fast asleep.

“Oh Princess, is this any place for you to be cat-napping?” he whispered and grinned at his own joke. He bent down to her, gently, pushing the hair away from her face. Those ridiculous glasses still sat perched on her nose, and he let out a sigh. It hurt to imagine how much pain and insecurity the akuma injury must have caused. Chat thought it was really unfair that, of all the people in Paris, Marinette had to be the one failed by Ladybug's healing magic. He sighed.

“Let’s get you into the bed, what do you say?”

He scooped her carefully into his arms and carried her across the room. Lifting the covers with his tail - it really came in handy sometimes - Chat settled her down and pulled away. He had to admit he  _ was _ a bit curious about her injury, ever since he heard Alya and Nino talk about it... But he knew better than to take a peek without permission - Marinette was his friend. She trusted him. And Chat would not betray that trust.

She whimpered softly in her sleep and pursed her soft pink lips in a frown.

_ Aaaand I should not be thinking about her lips. _ Chat realized with growing dread. But his gaze dropped down on its own accord, unhelpfully, and Chat gulped.

It hit him, very suddenly again, just how  _ pretty _ Marinette was.

_ Oh boy. _

His eyes widened as she murmured something in her sleep. Black ears twitched and a grin spread across his masked face.

“Dreaming about me, Princess?” He was about to crack a pun, no matter she wouldn’t hear him, when he realized that she was definitely not have any fun kind of dream.

Her fingers twitched on top of the covers, then balled into fists. She was having a nightmare. Chat watched with growing dread as she thrashed around, small groans and gasps echoing in the quiet room.

Should he wake her up? Could he? Would that help?

But it seemed the decision would be made for him. Marinette flinched violently and woke. Even through the dark-lensed glasses Chat could make out the outlines of her wide-eyed look of terror. 

Chat watched her sit up, sensing someone was near.

He touched her hand softly and spoke: “Hey Princess, it’s okay. It was just a dream.”

“Chat!” Marinette all but shrieked, “What-what are you doing here?!”

She tensed, frozen up like a deer in headlights for a second, then her hand flew up to her face. Chat watched her relax slightly, confused.  _ Ah. She was checking for the glasses. _ His heart gave a sharp pang at the realization. Was she really that worried about people seeing her? About him seeing her? It was rubbish! He was sure no scar would ever change the fact that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was beautiful. She was kind, and warm, and amazing, she would have been beautiful even if she got body swapped with an ogre - Chat was pretty sure.

A small sigh tore him out of his thoughts.

“Everything okay, Princess?”

Her shoulders slumped.

“I guess.” She worried at her lower lip, as if deciding whether to talk or not.

Chat put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, smiling softly despite himself.

“You are a great person, Marinette, and I am a superhero so I would know!” She gave him a small smack at that, “What I mean to say, you are my friend. If there’s anything you need to talk about, I’m here, okay? You don’t have to hold everything in.”

She sighed once again, leaning forward slightly. It looked like she didn’t really realize what she was doing, but Chat knew a person needing a hug when he saw one - after all he saw himself in the mirror often enough.  He leaned in, slowly, giving Marinette chance to back away if she didn’t feel like it, but the moment Chat put his arms around her, she went boneless. Hand stroking up and down her back, he waited.

“It’s just...” Mari started, then stopped, letting out another great sigh, “I just feel so horrible about all this, you know? Everyone is so nice and supportive and patient and I just want to scream.”

Chat looked down, but she buried her face in his chest, hugging him tighter.

“Even  _ Chloe _ was nice to me - look,” her voice was muffled by the fabric of his suit, but she pointed to her bedside table and Chat’s eyes widened.

A tub of very expensive brand-name healing balm was sitting there - and  _ of course _ Chloe would be decidedly over-the-top in her support.

“I mean, I just feel so ungrateful. Everyone is bending backwards to make me feel better and I just-” to Chat’s horror her voice broke.

“I want to hide away in my room - my own room, not Alya’s older brother’s. I want to sketch, I want to finish my sewing project, I want to stand on the balcony and look over the rooftops,  _ but I can’t, _ and I hate it. Like there’s nothing to me anymore. Like all I was ever good at, good  _ for _ , is just gone. And I am angry and snapping at people who did nothing wrong,” she hiccuped softly, “I had to apologize to  _ Chloe _ , Chaton. Chloe!”

Chat felt helpless. He wished, for once, that his powers were something else than despair and destruction. He wished he could fix things, just this once.

Marinette backed away from the hug, wiping carefully under the huge spectacles.

“Sorry. I- you don’t need to be hearing all this.”

Chat frowned for a second and then stood up abruptly.

“Ch-Chat?”

“Here, put on your jacket, Princess.”

“What for, you silly cat?”

Chat didn’t explain, but Mari followed his request anyway.

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do, why-”

But Chat just picked her out and swung out of the window. To her credit, Marinette only shrieked a little.

“What are you doing, you silly Alley Cat!” she asked him incredulously, but Chat just grinned and said nothing.

When at long last he swung up into the beams of the Eiffel Tower, he let Mari down gently.

“This is my and Ladybug’s secret spot,” Chat told her, softly, still holding her hand so she wouldn’t lose balance.

“I come here on my own, sometimes. Just to, you know, sit down and think. Clear my head, and all that.” 

He grinned and gave her a small nudge.

“Can you guess where we are?”

Closing his eyes, Chat tried to imagine what it was like for Marinette. The old musician with his accordion was performing for the crowd below, making a familiar tune drift up towards them. Some boat horns were going off, sound echoing from the Seine. Smell of cheap street food and cotton candy wafted from the park to the side.

“It won’t be a secret spot anymore if I guess it,” Marinette said softly, but he could see a cheeky smile make its way onto her face.

“I trust you,” Chat said with a soft smile, and he found that he truly meant it. He trusted Marinette. It felt a little like an epiphany.

They both sat down and didn’t speak for a long time. For once, the soft hum of Parisian night and the streets below was enough. It felt like peace.

“Chat?” Mari spoke up suddenly, and her voice sounded strangely serious.

He wanted to ask her what it was, wanted to know what was wrong, but a piercing vail shattered the moment.

“Shit. Was that-”

“An Akuma!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next there'll be another akuma courtesy of your friendly local feminist, but more importantly, some feelz™, yet more Marichat and... could it be? Master Fu on the horizon?
> 
> Stay tuned loves <3  
> PS: Should I just confess to the reference in the title? I feel I'm making a horrible joke that none of you get, and that bothers me a lot more then it probably should. *Pree out*


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there's another akuma ~~courtesy of your friendly local feminist~~ , but more importantly, some feelz™, yet more Marichat, and... could it be.. Master Fu on the horizon?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bell is a bae and I love them to the moon and back (seriously, all the typos, you guys cannot imagine, I still haven't figured out the whole leg v. feet thing -_-)  
> Also, I absolutely love all of you gems who left comments, kudos, or subscribed <3
> 
> BEWARE: I have a big-ish project deadline at school coming up, and while I'll try to keep up my weekly update schedule, I thought it best to let you lovely lot know that I might skip a week or two (for which I apologize in advance). That said, worry not for I am VERY committed to this fic ;)
> 
> Enjoy the chapter and tell me what you think!

 

_ Akuma. _

Marinette’s heart filled with dread.  _ Now, of all times! _

“It’s okay, Princess, I’ll just take you down and sort this out real quick,” Chat told her reassuringly, but she could hear the edge of worry in his voice. Marinette knew why; without Sunshine, who got left behind in Alya’s apartment, she was left in the dark, quite literally. Blast it all! Mari knew Chat wasn’t keen on leaving her - but she knew just as well that he  _ needed _ to go.

“It’s fine Chaton,” she told him the moment they landed on the street below the Eiffel Tower, “Go be a hero, I’ll wait for you right here.”

She couldn’t see his worry-filled look, the twitch of clawed hand in her direction. She didn’t see him waver. But the screams got louder and closer, and Chat knew as well as Marinette that he had to leave and keep Paris safe.

Her eyes widened behind the dark glasses as she felt something velvet soft press onto her forehead. A kiss goodbye.

“Be safe, Princess, I’ll come back for you,” Chat whispered and gave her a hug. Just a small, brief press of arms, but all the more desperate for it.

“I’ll come right back!”

 

Mari listened intently for when Chat was gone - then reached for her bag to get Tikki, only, her bag wasn’t there. With horror she realized she’d left her room with nothing but her jacket. Even her phone was still back at Alya’s.  _ Shit. _ This wasn’t good. 

_ Come on, Marinette, think! _

Wait. Her phone... Her phone was back in the room at Alya’s. Maybe, just maybe,  _ if the famous ladybug luck decided to cooperate _ she could just pull this off. She took of her sunglasses and folded them into her pocket. She needed help, fast. Mari tried to listen for people running around, but there wasn’t anyone. She could hear the screams and - her eyes widened -  _ was that an explosion?! _

Marinette growled in frustration, she had to help Chat! Angry tears welled in her eyes. Ugh. Of all the useless, horrid things to happen.

“Miss?” Marinette whirled around to face the speaker.

“Excuse me, but the akuma alarm went off. The tower is closed, you should go hide.” A security guard, Marinette realized with relief. She could have hugged him. 

“I’m sorry, but I’m blind, and I got separated from my guide in the attack,” Marinette rattled off - it wasn’t true, strictly speaking, but she didn’t think the truth would be the best policy in this case.

The guard made a sound of distress - he must have seen her eyes, then. Marinette found she didn’t really care.

“Is there, well, I really don’t have the training, but, can I help you in any way?” he stammered.

“If you could lend me a phone to call my friend, that would be a lot of help. She had my bag, you see.” Mari made a show of extending her empty hands.

“Oh, of course! Here!” the guard extended a hand with a phone in it, then stopped himself.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can you even dial a phone number?” 

Marinette sighed; she didn’t have time to explain the logistics of her blindness to a random stranger just then, but hey..

“If you just enable the VoiceOver I can manage.”

She quickly explained, and the guard seemed a bit embarrassed, but after few taps, he passed her the phone nonetheless. She fiddled with the unfamiliar display for a second, then dialed, bless Siri’s cold mechanical heart, and bit her lip.  _ Please, please let this work _ .

She knew Tikki wouldn’t normally pick up the phone, but her kwami must know of the attack by now... Mari crossed her fingers.

‘Hello?’

“Oh Tikki, thank god! It’s me, I’m by the Eiffel tower. Can you get to me?”

‘Marinette! Are you okay?’

“Yes, yes, I am fine, can you get here?”

There was a beat of silence, and Marinette fidgeted nervously. It would be risky for Tikki to just fly through Paris, but it  _ was _ an emergency.

‘Yes. I can come to you, the earrings will guide me. Just make sure you’re alone.’

“Okay,” Marinette replied, then, remembering the guard, “I will hide in the toilets, okay?”

Tikki agreed and the call disconnected. Marinette quickly thanked the guard and asked him to escort her to the toilets - after assuring him she would be okay,  _ yes, completely fine, thank you _ , he finally left her on her own.

 

In barely any time at all Mari felt the whoosh of air accompanied by the familiar, flowery scent of her kwami. She didn’t wait for the lecture she knew was coming.

“Tikki! Spots ON!”

With a rush of power her super-suit was on and Marinette instantly felt better. Oh yes, and she could  _ finally _ see. Though, what she saw just then made her skin crawl a little - public toilets just weren’t the best of locales.  _ Is that puke over the- nope, no, I’ve got work to do! _ Mari shook of her disturbing thoughts and quickly hopped out of the tiny window. She glanced around, listening for the commotion, then ran towards the city center. 

The bangs and screams were getting louder.  _ This must be it _ . As soon as she swung over the nearest building and onto a busy intersection, a very odd sight greeted her.

Amid overrun cars and fleeing civilians, Chat Noir was locked in a battle with two enormous hot-pink...  _ love hearts? _

Marinette rubbed her eyes.

Then she noticed a petite young woman in a strangely vibrant magical girl costume and had to blink fast to process it all. Mari loved Sailor Moon as much as anyone, but... well...

“I’m nobody’s sweetheart!” the akuma yelled, “Now give me your Miraculous, you stupid Tomcat!”

Right. This was happening. Ladybug swung her yo-yo and tied the two heart-shaped minions together, toppling them to the side.

“Hey Chaton, looks like you could use some help.”

Chat Noir looked at her with relief.

“LB! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

“Hey! NO FAIR!” the akuma shrilled turning around and using a magic wand to turn some more fleeing onlookers into her pink burly minions.

“What’s the deal here, Chat?” Ladybug turned to him, as she tried to restrain the civilians-turned-lackeys and dodge the akuma’s attacks at the same time.

Chat kicked another vile pink creature and panted.

“Not sure, I think she was a waitress at a cosplay cafe, and the customers were being really inappropriate to her...”

Marinette winced internally, no wonder, poor girl. Still, the akuma had to be purified.

“Okay. Any idea where her akuma is?” she asked, taking out another heart.

“I think it might be the wand,” yelped Chat as he ducked and rolled to avoid the sparkling beam of akuma magic. Marinette grimaced and nodded. There was nothing else to it.

“Lucky Charm!” she yelled, tossing her yo-yo in the air.

A dish towel, red and black spotted, fell to her hands. She looked around and a set of traffic lights just by the akuma’s side gave her an idea.

“Minou, distract her,” she whispered as she swooped by Chat, kicking the pink minions he was fighting aside like a row of bowling pins. Chat nodded just enough for her to see and ran the other way.

“Hey Sweetheart!” he hollered at the akuma, making the girl seethe with rage and turn to him fully. 

“NO CAT-CALLING!” the akuma howled. 

Ladybug smirked.  _ Distraction = success _ . She was fast to take advantage. Lightning fast, she swung around on her yo-yo, using the traffic light pole as an anchor. Before the akuma had a chance to react, she wrapped the spotted dish towel around the akuma’s wand, and with a flick of her wrist send it flying. In perfect sync, Chat grabbed the wand and swiftly snapped in half. The crack shimmered and released a tainted black butterfly.

Ladybug spun her yo-yo around and captured the struggling black bug, only to release a pure white butterfly a second later.

“Bye-bye, little one,” she whispered, a little winded.

She threw the dish towel in the air and yelled: “Miraculous Ladybug!”

Sputter of power left her, but only a dozen or so shimmering little ladybugs appeared. They flew slowly to the transformed victims and changed them back, but then... they just vanished. The cars around them were still upturned. The street in disarray. The knocked out love-hearts, now civilians, lay, fainted, on the damaged road.

Ladybug sank to her knees, coughing.

“LB? Ladybug?! Are you alright?!” Chat yelled as he sank down at her side.

Marinette’s eyes were watering.  _ Yes, _ she wanted to say  _ I’m fine _ . “Ladybug?”

She heaved in a labored breath, then another.

“Fine,” she managed at last. “It’s fine, need to go.”

And she really did, her earrings were beeping insistently. Screwing her eyes shut for a moment, she mustered all the energy she could. Eiffel tower. That’s where she needed to go. It wasn’t far, she could do it. She had to do it.

She swung up to her feet, feeling as if the air around her turned to hot molasses.

“I’ll be okay.” she declared, trying to persuade herself, as much as Chat Noir. She swung her yo-yo with a shaking hand.

“Bug out.” Ladybug said feebly, and was gone.

 

She stumbled into the toilets through the doors this time, opening the cubicle door with a shaking hand just as her transformation released. Tikki fell to the ground, motionless. Marinette stood there, blind again, weak kneed and disoriented, for a second, before searing pain shot through her head. She saw bright green lighting, felt as if her insides were being torn apart, her eyes burned. _No, please! Not_ _again_ , she just couldn’t... She couldn’t _breathe_.

Next thing she knew she was heaving her meager lunch into the toilet. Tikki stirred on the floor, but Marinette couldn’t help her. Couldn’t even see the overexerted kwami. 

“Oh, yes! Sir! Mr. Noir, I mean!” a voice of the nervous guard echoed from the outside.

“Where is she then?” 

Marinette braced herself on the toilet, not even flinching at all the grime and dirt she must have been kneeling in. Her glasses. She  _ had to  _ put on her glasses. She pushed them onto her sweat-beaded face just as the voice from the outside said:

“The toilets, just over there.”

“Tikki, are you okay? Tikki where are you, get in here, quick!” Marinette whispered, opening her pocket. She felt the tiny soft paws on her knee and grabbed Tikki, showing her inside her jacket unceremoniously.

They had to talk about this, but not now. Now was not the time. Now she had to flush and get to her shaking feet and pretend she was okay.

Now there was a completely livid Chat Noir, breaking down the doors of girls’ lavatory. Fear stricken. Over Marinette.

“Marinette?! Mari, where are you?!”

“Here.. I’m right here.” she opened the door that hadn’t even been locked - and she had to thank all her luck the toilets had been empty, because she would have been in so much trouble otherwise.

She felt like death and must have smelt like it, too, but Chat crushed Marinette in a hug so tight she was surprised he hadn’t knocked all the breath straight out of her.

“Hey, easy,” she whispered. “I’m fine Kitty, I was safe hiding right here in this disgusting, smelly bathroom.”

He chuckled and Mari fancied it sounded just a tad watery.

“I’m so sorry Princess.”

She wiped her hands on her jacket, just to be safe, then caught his face in her hands.

“Listen to me you silly cat. You just saved Paris, you’ve got nothing to apologize for. I’m here, and I’m okay.”

_ Well, that is a lie  _ a little part of her brain whispered, probably the part that registered all the pain and fatigue under the adrenaline rush.  _ But Chat doesn’t need to know that. _

“Now, please let go of me, I smell like toilet floor and there’s probably all sorts of horrible gems on me.”

And to her delight, he chuckled.

“Gentleman would never comment on lady’s smell,” he said solemnly.

“But you agree that I stink?” Mari teased, poking at what she gauged was his side.

He didn’t say anything, but a small stifled giggle did escape him.

“Right, Alley Cat, now bring me back to Alya’s, I really need a shower. Preferably before I have to walk into someone and explain what the hell happened to me.”

Chat saluted (and obnoxiously announced the salute so Marinette could “see”) and picked her off her feet. They were back in her temporary room in no time at all, and to both their luck, nobody seemed to notice Marinette's absence.

“Thanks Chat.” she said when he finally let her down.

“What for? For ditching you to hide in a stinky toilet?”

“For cheering me up.” Marinette replied, and to her surprise she realized that he had, cheered her up, that is. She was sore, her body hurt, but she felt... almost happy.

Chat stood there in stunned silence.

 

She had to sneak through the apartment to take the shower, luckily, Alya was helping her mom in the kitchen and so no one noticed her until she smelled much better. Sunshine kept nudging her worriedly - she would have to give him some treats to make up for disappearing like that. Once she was done pretending to eat, she said goodnight to the Cesaires and said she was gonna phone her parents. 

Instead of taking her phone though, Marinette took a dangerously big dosage of her pain meds, and crawled into the bed that wasn’t really hers, and folded onto herself tiredly. She felt like utter shit. Her muscles burned and she was hungry, but she knew if she ate any of that dinner she would throw it right up. With a jolt, she remembered Tikki.

She pawed at the pocket of her filthy discarded jacket, finding the kwami asleep in there.

At least Marinette hoped her friend was just asleep.

“Tikki, Tikki wake up!” she whispered, softly, but urgently.

_‘Marinette?’_ the kwami moaned, _‘sugar, please.’_

Mari understood and immediately pulled a big packet of chocolate from her bedside table.

As Tikki ate, Marinette spoke silently.

“I know you didn’t want to leave me, but things are getting bad. You need to go see Master Fu.”

There was some hurried chewing and swallowing before Tikki spoke frantically:

_‘But you are my chosen Marinette, I can’t just leave you alone! Something bad could happen, just like today!’_

“Tikki, listen to me. I cannot get to Master Fu - Sunshine doesn’t know the way and you cannot just navigate me in broad daylight - people would notice you.”

_‘You could go as Ladybug,’_ Tikki said softly, but they both knew that it was even less of an option now then it was before. Marinette wished she had listened to her kwami earlier, but she hadn't wanted to see the ancient master then. Hadn't wanted to tell him about how much she had failed in her duties. And now, getting weaker and weaker with each transformation, she knew she had to save her Ladybug transformation strictly for emergencies.

“You know better than me that there is something wrong. Last time we were both knackered, but today you actually fainted, Tikki, don’t think I didn’t notice just because I was puking my guts out.”

Silence.

“You will go, I will be fine on my own.”

The room was silent so long Marinette thought Tikki wasn’t going to reply, but just then her kwami said, softly,  _ dejectedl _ y:

_ ‘Okay.’ _

After a short pause, Tikki added: _‘But I still don’t think it’s a good idea.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that just happened. Poor Mari just cannot catch a break, can she *I side-eye myself in the mirror*
> 
> Coming up: Adrien on a mission, some Chat Noir Shenanigans and- could it be? Master Fu at last?!
> 
> Stay tuned >:3  
> \---------------------  
>  ~~On a completely unrelated note, have you guys seen Gorizilla? Cause I have and I AM SCREECHING!!~~


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where there is an Adrien on a mission, some Chat Noir Shenanigans and- could it be? Master Fu at last?! *tu, du, doooom*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the delay, loves, a school project is kicking my ass (seriously, 30 pages of lit review? organic chemistry? kmn T^T) but here's another chapter - hope you enjoy it <3

 

 

Adrien fell down onto the bed and giggled as his transformation faded. Plagg threw him a faux-disgusted look and flew off.  Adrien couldn't care less. 

He smiled as he played through the events of the evening - Marinette, smiling at him brightly; Marinette, holding his face in her small, soft hands; Marinette, who somehow managed to make public toilets into the most amazing place in whole Paris. Sure, he had been worried, and the akuma fight...  _ The akuma fight. _

He sat up suddenly, startling Plagg out of his sneak attack on Adrien’s secret cheese stash. There was something going on with Ladybug, and he  _had to_ find out.

“Do you know what the hell is going on Plagg?" Adrien demanded, dragging the black cat out of the cheese drawer, "You said we should wait and see, but clearly, this waiting and seeing is getting us nowhere - you  _ must  _ know something.”

The kwami sighed.

_ ‘Look kid,’ _ he whooshed out of Adrien's grip and hovered at his face level, _ ‘I don’t know what’s wrong.’ _

“There must be something we can do! You saw Ladybug today, she could barely manage her Miraculous Ladybug. What if next time it doesn’t work at all? And what about  _ my  _ cataclysm? We need to find some answers.”

Plagg looked down for a second, the look on his furry black face almost... uneasy. He was about to say something, an excuse, Adrien was sure, but Adrien was having none of it. 

He grabbed the cat tightly and narrowed his eyes at him.

“You know something, Plagg, so spit it up.”

Plagg glanced sideways again.

_ ‘There is one person that could help. I’m not supposed to reveal him unless there is an emergency-’ _

“This **is** an emergency you mad cat!”

Plagg bit him.

“Oi, now!”

_ ‘Calm your temper you overgrown kitten,’  _ Plagg hissed, and really, wasn’t that Adrien’s line?

_ ‘I know this is an emergency, but there is a snag. This person I am talking about, the Guardian, well, am not sure where to find him.’ _

“What?!” Adrien spat. “What do you mean - you can’t seriously...” he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “How do you not know?”

Plagg shrugged.

_ ‘It’s always Tikki who knows this stuff.’ _

“Tikki?”

Plagg glared at him.

_ ‘Ladybug’s kwami, my other half.’ _

Adrien looked at him incredulously. Why was he  _ just  _ hearing this?

“Come on, Plagg, think, is there really no other way?!”

Plagg looked thoughtful for a while.

_ ‘I knew the last guardian, this silly looking boy-thing,’  _ Plagg mused and Adrien jumped up excitedly.

“That’s it, Plagg! We can just try looking him up online!”

Plagg frowned.

_ ‘Kid, this was over hundred year ago. In China! I doubt he’s even the same person-’ _

“It doesn’t matter!” Adrien snapped, hopping down from the bed and heading for his computer, “we have to try.”

 

Looking for a person when you knew nothing but his last name, Adrien realized, was not easy. If Plagg’s  _ ‘Fu, or something...’ _ was even right, he added to himself glumly.

He tried all the searches he could think of, but came up completely empty. Nothing. Rien. Zilch. Nada. He banged his head on the keyboard, when an idea hit him.

If Hawkmoth was here, if Ladybug and himself were here, it  _ had to _ mean this guardian-person was also in Paris. And if Plagg was right and his last name was Fu... then all he had to do was look up the phone book!

Nathalie looked at him oddly when he requested the book, but he couldn't care less. Flipping through the book hastily, he finally got to F-u and his insides froze. 

There were dozen ‘Fus’ in central Paris alone!

He groaned.  _ No! No giving up! Think, Adrien! _ “That’s it. If it’s still him, he’d be really old. Ancient, right? Let’s just try calling first.”

Okay, Adrien realized in hindsight, calling a stranger just to ask: ‘ _ I am sorry to bother, but I am looking for Mr. Fu, he would be about hundred and forty - would you happen to know him? _ ’ was a bit, well, odd. Especially at nearly nine in the evening. However, Adrien knew this couldn’t wait.

The first three people hung up on him. The fourth yelled at him in chinese - which Adrien understood enough to know he was getting cursed out. The fifth politely asked if this was a prank and, once Adrien gave his excuse of looking for a lost relatives, the fifth Mr. Fu said he wasn’t anywhere near that age nor did he know of any lost relatives in the family. Adrien let out a big sigh after finishing that last call, but soldiered on. The sixth phone number, Fu’s massage parlor, didn’t connect. 

_ Hmm, they must already be closed _ . 

But something felt odd - something inside him. Intuition? Indigestion? He wasn’t sure. But he copied the address listed next to the phone number on a piece of paper, and closed the phone book.

“Plagg, hey Plagg, wake up!” he poked the snoozing kwami.

_ ‘Whazzit?’ _ Plagg grumbled but Adrien didn’t give him time to complain.

“Claws out!”

As soon as the suit was on Chat snuck out of the window and broke into a run. Paper clutched in hand, he scanned the street signs as he swung by - he was getting close. Finally, he saw the old door sporting the sign “Fu’s Chinese Massage Parlor”.

Chat hopped down from the roof and landed on the pavement gracefully. He reached for the doorknob slowly, when a voice from the inside called out.

“Come on in, Chat Noir, I have been expecting you.”

Chat almost fell right on his face.  _ Say what? _

“Uhm, Mr. Fu?” he called as he came inside. A tiny old man appeared in front of him. He looked old, but definitely not old enough to fit Plagg’s description.

“Yes, yes, now come in Adrien.”

Chat blanched.  _ How?? _

“I don’t know what you-”

“It is okay,” the old man said, patting his arm, “you can call me Master Fu. I am the Guardian of the Miraculous. I was the one who chose you for that ring.”

A flash of realization hit Chat just then.

“I have seen you before! That old man with the cane, on my first day... That was you!”

Master Fu smiled. “Yes, yes. I needed to make sure you are ready. Now, come in here.”

Chat entered a cozy side room, and the old man slid the screen door shut behind him.

“Release your transformation and sit. Plagg had better join us for this.”

Chat obeyed. With a flash of green light Plagg zoomed out of the ring. They both sat down on the cushioned floor.

“I saw your last fight,” the Master said, “it didn’t look good at all. No. There is no balance.”

Adrien wasn’t sure if the muttering was meant for them or not. He eyed Plagg, but the kwami just shrugged.

“Well, something is wrong - my cataclysm, well, it’s not working anymore.”

The master looked to him with a frown.

“Indeed. I have to consult the scrolls. And the book, yes, maybe there will be something in the book...”

Adrien got the feeling he wasn’t talking to them anymore, yet again.

“Sorry, but isn’t there anything I can do?”

The old man looked at him sadly.

“I’m afraid not, my boy. Just be careful - and look out for Ladybug, if you can. If my theory is right, she will need all your help to overcome this. And maybe...”

“Maybe what?” Adrien urged him, shooting another worried glanced to Plagg.

“Yes, maybe it is time.” Adrien didn’t understand at all, only watched on in surprise as the old man walked over to an old gramophone and revealed a hidden box within. He fiddled with something out of Adrien’s sight, then came back with a small, wooden box. It looked...  _ familiar.  _ Almost like the one Plagg’s ring came to him! Adrien’s eyes widened.

“Is that-”

“Yes, my boy. This box contains the Bee miraculous. I believe it might be time for you to have some extra help. And who better to pick your new ally than yourself!”

“But I-” Adrien wanted to protest,  _ surely Ladybug would be better _ , but the old Master just pushed the box into his hands and Adrien could do nothing but stare.

“I think you better head back home before you are missed.” Master Fu said at last. Adrien very much doubted anyone would miss him at home, but the old man didn’t need to know that. So Adrien just nodded and summoned Plagg into his ring once more.

Chat swung out of the window of the parlor and up on the roof.

The night was warm and uncharacteristically dry. The street lights below shimmered, the nice smell of the chinese restaurant a few doors down wafted through the air.

He sat at the edge of the roof, looking down, conflicting feelings bubbling up to the surface. The Bee miraculous... How was he supposed to - what, just pick a random person? What about Ladybug, shouldn’t she get to have some say in this? And talking about LB, just what was going on with her? He rubbed a gloved hand across his face, shoulders slumping. Chat worried for Ladybug - of course he worried! But he couldn’t help feel disappointed, almost angry, at her, with how she wouldn’t rely on him. Wouldn’t trust him. 

He sighed, closing his eyes. Marinette’s smiling face popped up behind his eyelids and he sighed again. Her warmth, her smiles, it was all so addictive - Chat didn’t know what to think. Scratch that, Adrien didn’t know what to think. Well, at least there was something to look forward to at school the next day. Though he wasn’t sure just how he’d be able to face her in class after all that went down. And, as if he hadn’t had enough to worry about, now there was the new miraculous... Chat looked around, taking in the night scenery.

Oh well. He better get home before Natalie decided to randomly check in on him.

 

Adrien hit the bed the moment he detransformed, not even bothering to take his shoes off. Not a second too soon, it seemed, for the door squeaked open and his father’s assistant peeked in.

“Adrien, are you awake?”

He considered not replying for three whole seconds, but then stood up with a small sigh.

“Yes Natalie, I was about to go to bed, what is it?”

“Your father is back from his trip,” she said, and Adrien just barely resisted the urge to reply  _ I know _ . The odd conversation he had overheard earlier that day popped back into his mind.

“Yes?”

Natalie’s gaze flicked to the side almost too fast to notice, as if she were guilty. _Father must be in a bad mood then._ _Great_ , Adrien mused.

“Mr. Agreste would like to see you in his study.”

Adrien nodded and left without another word.

His empty stomach was churning unpleasantly and all the vestiges of good mood he was clinging onto vanished as he opened the door of his father’s study.

“You wanted to see me, father?”

Gabriel Agreste had been gazing at a life-sized portrait of his wife, but he turned slowly to face his son as soon as he had entered.

“Yes Adrien. I wanted to commend you on your progress with the new diet. It looks like all will be in order for the fashion week.”

Adrien’s stomach churned guiltily - he had eaten a lot more than usual that day. Then again, with all the work he was putting in as Chat Noir, he couldn’t just  _ stop eating _ all together...

“Thank you father.”

“Are you finding the food regime agreeable? You take part in lot of extracurriculars, did you report everything to the dietician?”

Adrien gulped. He had, indeed, neglected to mention  _ certain parts _ of his schedule to the overzealous man, but Adrien doubted he could justify his Chat Noir-induced eating habits with just his extracurriculars. However, his father was giving him a chance to fess up. Could he? Ladybug wouldn’t even trust  _ him _ with her secret, could Adrien trust his father?

“Well?” Gabriel arched his eyebrow when the silence stretched.

“Father, I...” Adrien started but a sharp knock on the door interrupted him.

Gabriel sighed, but then straightened up and responded: “Come in Natalie. Adrien and I were just about finished.”

Adrien frowned. Of course. What had he been thinking.

“If there is anything else you would like to discuss, let Natalie know. There is some room for adjustments in your diet - do not let your health suffer.”

“Mr. Agreste, New York is on hold on line two,” Nathalie cut in, and just like that, Adrien was sidelined out of the door.

_ Great _ , Adrien thought as he finally slid into his bed that night,  _ everything is looking just great. _

\-----

_TBC_   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming up next: Marinette, Sunshine, karma, and a queen.

**Author's Note:**

> I live for validation, comments make me happy, and happy Pree writes faster ..just sayin' 
> 
> Also, this is, okay, maybe not the darkest thing I've ever written, but in the ballpark - though I am a giant baby, so maybe my line of angst is not all the way up there, either way, if you think this should have any more tags or content warnings, please let me know.
> 
>  
> 
> ~~who's crying, I am not crying (my babiiiieeess)~~


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